Quote:
Originally posted by Bill Murray
Five by Five Mr. G.
I am so removed nowadays from the active military scene that I do not know if the practice continues but in the USMC, one used to receive a "hashmark" for each 4 years of service which was really only displayed on one's dress jacket as opposed to the regular uniform shirt. I do not remember now if there was a ribbon to be worn on one's blouse shirt. This was only given to what we call enlisted personnel.
Interesting about the flag issue. I do not know the significance of the coat of arms on the flag you sell but it does seem to me that the Maple Leaf flag represents what I, as an outsider, well, Canada.
As to the query about "vets versus deserters" I think Karmen had a keystroke glitch. That was what I thought she meant. Not to get into a discussion about that but I use the PC correct term of my generation and I believe it is now probably more correct to use the term "protesters" or something like that. As in many cases in this world, time heals a lot of wounds but as a product of my generation, it would disturb me to have a memorial raised to essentially "celebrate" what took place. It almost seems to me to be some folks wanting to make a political statement and using that situation to further their cause. So what else is new????
Before I leave this thread, one more thing about the flag issue.
Am I missing some significance in the layout of the current flag?
To me it is a fairly simple layout but as is often the case the arrangement of colours etc. can have some sort of message that goes totally over my head.
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Bill
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Bill:...not too sure just where I'm hopping into this discussion...many thoughts, many impressions...however;
It's interesting to see that, in one of your posts, i.e. "seems to colour our immediate reactions", that you used the "ou" instead of the "o"...Hmmm, latent Canadian perhaps?
With reference to our flag (and I assume, in context you refer to the current Canadian flag), Yes, there is a message.
The ends of the flag are red. Red is our Liberal (your Democrat) colour of choice. The flag, if it had to have been changed at all, most probably should have been blue on either end, to represent "from sea to shining sea". Blue is a Conservative (your Republican) colour, therefore anathema to the Liberals.
However, the Liberal Federal party at the time, having a Parliamentary majority, ram-rodded this un-needed, un-wanted and generally un-warranted piece of red rag upon us.
Those of us who remember, especially as 11 November draws nearer, reflect upon the fact that the Red Ensign is the symbol under which many Canadians fought and died.
Lest we forget!