Posted on 08/25/2013 1:36:13 AM PDT by naturalman1975
JAYDEN Farmer, 12, and with the honesty of innocence, wanted to remind Suzanne Thomas her son didn't die in vain. So he wrote to her.
"I am sorry about your boy James. He was a brave boy. I feel so sorry that you have lost him. I will help you get through this."
Sometimes words can only say so much so Jayden drew two love hearts and some butterflies on the page.
His classmate at Kelmscott Primary School, Jade Hancock, also put pen to paper.
"Dear Ms Thomas. When you're feeling down about this tragedy, just remember all the hugs he gave you (and) that no matter what, he loves you. Most of all remember his achievements and what he did to help Australia. Your son is a true hero."
.....
The story that changed a group of fidgety kids was about someone only a few years older than them, James Thomas Martin, 21, the youngest of the 40 Australian soldiers to die in Afghanistan, killed in a green-on-blue attack in August last year.
Out at Kelmscott Primary School, in the foothills of Perth's Darling Ranges, the children are learning about empathy. So when art teacher Mrs B (Diana Bickford) saw James Martin's story in The Sunday Times she thought it might be worth reading to her students
As she read about a boy who became a soldier the chatter stopped and the children listened. In silence they heard how 19-year-old James Martin got homesick during army training, wrote letters to his mum about his loneliness and turned his self-doubt into determination. They also heard how he turned 21 in June last year and lost his life two months later, leaving Suzanne without her eldest son.
(Excerpt) Read more at perthnow.com.au ...
Origin
There are numerous theories about the origin of the term. Before World War I, the term "digger" was widely used in Australasia to mean a miner, and referring to a Kauri gum-digger in New Zealand. In Australia and New Zealand, the term "digger" has egalitarian connotations from the Victorian Eureka Stockade Rebellion of 1854 which, in turn, may have had resonance from earlier use of the term Diggers as egalitarians. Many Australian and New Zealand soldiers in the Second Boer War, 1899–1902, were former miners and at the Battle of Elands River (1900), the Australian defenders earned a reputation as diggers, hastily constructing dugout defences in the hard ground. Another story for the origin of this term dates it to 25 April 1915, during the Gallipoli campaign. Following the landing at Gallipoli, General Sir Ian Hamilton wrote to General William Birdwood, the commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), adding in postscript: "P.S.—You have got through the difficult business, now you have only to dig, dig, dig, until you are safe."
However, there is no hard evidence to suggest that Hamilton's message is the reason why digger was applied to ANZAC troops in general. One other theory is the fact that ANZAC troops were especially good at digging tunnels between their own trenches and the enemies, and were regarded by both sides as diggers, one being derogatory and the other more in jest. The job of digging between the trenches was very hard, especially when both sides' diggers met in the tunnels. ANZACs believed that it was a compliment to be referred to as diggers, because it indicated you were good at a very difficult job.
W. H. Downing, in Digger Dialects (1919), a glossary of words and phrases used by Australian personnel during the war, says that Digger was first used to mean a New Zealand or Australian soldier in 1916. It appears to have become popular among New Zealand troops before being adopted by Australians. The word was not in wide use amongst soldiers until 1917.
Rest in peace, Digger! It looks like a whole bunch of people "have your Mum's back." And THANK YOU for your service and sacrifice. SALUTE!
Many wonder why humanity hasn't done away with war.The answer is simple...*men*.Adult human males.As long as there are men,there will be evil men.And a certain percentage of evil men have always wanted,and will always want,to kill and to conquer.That explains Stalin,Mao,Hitler,Kim Il Sung,Ho Chi Minh as well as Bin Laden and Major Hasan.As a result...sadly...we'll always have war and/or oppression.
You seem to be at least somewhat..if not very...interested in Australia’s Armed Forces.If I’m right in that assumption I’d strongly encourage you,if you haven’t already seen it,to see “Breaker Morant”,an *outstanding* film,based on a true story,about Aussies fighting in the Boer War.Truly one of the finest war films ever.In fact,that’s what’s gonna be in my bluray player tonight.
Good to read there are still great kids and likewise great teachers in this wicked world. Too bad there are so few politicians that can say, “I have your back”.
This article needs to be read in ALL SCHOOLS and maybe, just maybe a few kids will get the idea.
The advantage of being retired is I have the time to actually enjoy reading and research and all the things that men are too busy working for ... to put another man's kids through college.
I posted wiki 'cause it bothers the hell out of me to have something dumped on me as if I know what it's talking about.
I HAD to go and find out ... what's a digger.
I'll check out the book.
Here’s a link to watch it on youtube. It’s in english but there are foreign subtitles. Thanks for the tip. I’ll be watching it today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZgNosQ8oCY
Correction/addition. Humans. Not just men, humans. We women are just as deadly, if not worse.
Correction/addition. Humans. Not just men, humans. We women are just as deadly, if not worse.
&&&
I was just getting ready to post a similar thought.
Women have not, traditionally, had the same aggressive tendencies nor the physical abilities to engage in actual combat, but, sadly, we are seeing that today there is the same capacity for darkness of the heart. Cf: Hillary’s
“What difference does it make?”
Abortion. Just saw an article in the last day or so where a woman held down her 10 year old niece/cousin, and let her husband rape the girl.
OH, and there was an article the other day about the brutality of the Comanches. The women of the tribes did the torturing, burning and cutting.
Hmmm,OK.There are many different types of evil in people,male and female.One can argue over whether the "typical" adult female is as intrinsically evil as the "typical" adult male.But show me,over the history of civilization,the female equivalent of the psychopaths I mentioned earlier.
Yes,there are evil women for sure.There may even be just as many as there are evil men.But "deadly"? My reading of history books (recent ones,at least) doesn't support such a claim.
And just out of curiosity...if I ever meet you on the street should I be running for cover due to your "deadly" nature? ;-)
OK,fair enough."Naturalman" is a well known Freeper from Down Under who often posts pieces about Australian politics,culture and the Australian Armed Forces.I'm a bit of an "Australiophile" myself,having fallen in love with the country and its people during my first visit about 35 years ago.So I guess I should understand that not all Yanks...and not all Freepers...know what a "Digger" is.
I'll check out the book.
My understanding is that the film was based on a book titled "Prisoners of the Empire" which was written about a hundred years ago by one of the men whose character is one of the several main ones.I've looked for the book here in the US and couldn't find it...but I haven't looked recently.But as I said the film is *outstanding*.
I saw that piece on the Comanches that someone linked here. Blood-curdling stuff.
"Shoot straight you bast**ds!"
I see your point. I guess the other poster and I were just trying to keep you from blaming it all on the men. Does seem these days that far too many females are making a great effort to catch up in the areas where males have not been so nice.
A good example of this is in driving aggressively. It used to be that one never saw an aggressive or rude female driver, but, now, they are all over the place. Actually, the first time I ever had a driver give me the finger for not driving fast enough in the fast lane it was a woman.
There was a time when it was only in a small segment of society, the guttersnipes, that one heard a woman using foul language. Now, it seems that many women are trying to exceed the men in that department.
And, no, I do not think I would send you running if we met on the street; I am a Boomer grandmother who hates confrontations of any sort, let alone a physical one. :)
Two of the most shocking movie deaths.
Edward Woodward sure knew how to pick 'em.
George Witton was granted clemency and had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment because it was accepted that, as a junior officer (Second Lieutenant) to Morant and Handcock (both full Lieutenants, although Morant had seniority over Handcock), his culpability was less. He was released, officially on the grounds of ill health (although the facts were that an Australian lawyer and Member of Parliament, Isaac Isaacs, later to become Australia's first native born Governor General as well as serving as Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, got on to the case, and was pointing out legal problems with the verdict) after serving less than three years. He then wrote his book entitled Scapegoat of the Empire. While Scapegoats was used as a source for the 1978 play and subsequent 1980 movie, the movie is based more on the trial records and news accounts of the time, and because of that is extremely accurate in its depiction of most of the court proceedings.
Scapegoats of the Empire is fairly readily available today, after years of being very difficult to get - The Book Depository in the UK is one source.
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