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Old photos etc

  • 31-12-2013 8:26pm
    #1
    Hedgemeister
    Closed Accounts Posts: 245 ✭✭


    Being the day that's in it, I was today flicking through some old photos.
    Two pics that I haven't looked at in years struck a chord with me.
    The first was my old school photo, taken about 52 years ago.
    There we were, the class of 1962, at ********National School-Yard, all bright eyed and busy tailed, looking forward to the future...
    A boy standing beside me died in a plane crash in the States, and the lad on my other side was run over by a truck and killed as a young man. Six more of the boys in the picture are also dead, but of natural causes.

    The second picture was an official Irish Army photo of a Platoon of soldiers taken at the Curragh Camp prior to heading to the Congo. The pic is in such remarkable condition, it could have been taken yesterday.
    The soldiers are a mixture of Cavalry and Infantry, a tough looking bunch, no obvious teenagers among their number. They were all fit, healthy...in the prime of life, yet, some short few weeks later nine of them would be dead...massacred at Niemba...the remainder (I assume) scarred for life as a result.
    This old photo is a stark reminder of (just some) of the heavy price paid by Ireland for World Peace...but was it worth it ?
    Personally, I think not...but that's for another day.
    (Too bad I can't post the pic here...Haven't mastered the trick yet!

    These two old photos reminded me that life is short...and can be bit of a lottery.

    However, I sincerely wish all the old soldiers who visit here...from whatever Army you served in, and to those yet to serve, in whatever Army you choose,...the Happiest of New Years in 2014. Stay safe...and good luck in 2014.


Comments

  • #2
    tac foley
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,500 ✭✭✭tac foley


    And the very same to you and yours, Sir.

    Have a safe and straight-shooting 2014.

    The boy standing next to me in MY 1962 school-class photo became a commercial pilot, and a few years later was piloting a clearly-marked Red Cross/Médecins-sans-Frontiéres C-47 in Angola full of about twenty doctors and nurses when the 'poor people' he was taking them to help shot it out of the sky. Everybody died.

    tac


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