Veteran's Day November 11

Somehow the veterans in my family all missed the shooting. My grandfather went to Paris, but WWI was essentially over. My uncles served during Korea but missed the fighting. I served during the Cuban Missile Crisis and my ship only went to the theater of war after I was separated. My oldest brother was drafted during Vietnam, but due to his ability to construct platforms they kept him at Fort Hood. I did what I could to discourage my children from enlisting. One daughter considered it but met someone instead.

I was in the Army from '62 till '67. Only left the states for a final two years in Germany. Many others went to southeast Asia.

Over here it's Remembrance Day. Not a holiday but people buy poppies in aid of armed forces charities and there's usually a minutes silence in shopping centres offices etc.

The full ceremony is on Sunday with members of the Royal family and leading politicians all laying wreaths at the Cenotaph.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Benavidez
The story of one of the toughest sumbitches that ever lived.

It's Remembrance Day here as well. We also have poppies and a minutes silence.

Poppies used to be a big thing here. I miss them.

I haven't seen any poppies since I left California.

There are big ones at the side of the road in some market towns. When my Brazilian d.i.l. saw one she asked what the big red thing was, it looked like an arse with a big black hole in the middle.

So much for reverence.

We put her right and she was mortified.

May have been some bit of cosmic truth in her observation. So many bright lights extinguished and so many non participants got very wealthy.

I was in a production of Oh What A Lovely War at College. There's a very good scene involving the profiteering industrialists.

I've just finished watching Boardwalk Empire and some of the songs in that I remember singing, but with different words.

Great series. Lots more historical fact in it than most.

It was, but I wasn't too happy about the ending. I suppose they had to do something with Tommy, but the real Thompson died in 1968.

Well, you know how we in the US worship the "dramatic arc" in a story, as well as a righteous comeuppance for a troubling character.

Have you seen Peaky Blinders?

It's set in Birmingham just after WW1 and is about a criminal gang although there's no prohibition so it's general racketeering.

It's very good the central character is compelling.

I haven't but I will look it up.

I've been reading about some of the underworld in London after the war. I admit, the Krays were seriously interesting.

I've seen the film with the Kemps, but not the most recent one.

The thing about the Krays it was the murder of Jack the hat McVitie which caused their downfall, and they only did that because their mum asked them to after he pushed his girlfriend from a moving car.

Peaky Blinders is the same time as Boardwalk Empire but the concerns are very different. In America it's prohibition, but in Britain it's revolution.

The Russian Revolution had a lot of support. There had been mutiny in the trenches lead by Percy Toplis, which is also the subject of another drama The Monocled Mutineer.

Anyway Peaky Blinders starts with a consignment of machine guns being stolen, and a rough Ulster policeman played by Sam Neill is dispatched to bring them back.

This is at the same time Ireland is going up in flames.

One big difference is that the effects of WW1 on the protagonists are looked at in some detail. Unlike Nucky Thompson, the main protagonist Thomas Shelby has just returned from the war and has flashbacks.

There's four seasons in total.