You Think You Got it Bad???

[Odd Man Out 1,283]

Sometimes when I think that things seem to be stacking up agains't me, I check out the followng vid -- specifically the 84 seconds from 5:50 and 7:14...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGBl57xWNgs

 

Man,now Thomas had it BAD! Really makes me realize that it is all about perspective...

Edited November 22, 2011 by Odd Man Out

[MT Predator 2,294]

Very interesting as I have visited some WWI battlefields there. When you figure the main communications system to pass info on were runners, this is what they had to rely on. These deaths during this Great War were really nothing in comparison to the totals sad to say. They just happened to be the last recorded.

Look up the Battle of Verdun, 21 February – 18 December 1916. 306,000 battlefield deaths during that time period. Not even a year. It was primarily an artillery battle, a total of about 40 million artillery shells were exchanged in that timeframe. The area is a National Park, the trenches, craters, and barbed wire are still there. Every year, people get fucked up by messing with unexploded artillery shells while hunting for souvenirs. Yes, you can still find helmets and stuff like that.

One monument is called the Trench of the Bayonets. A Squad of French troops were buried alive by the artillery impacts and all that was left was a dozen or so bayonets poking up through the dirt. They left them there and built a monument over the site and the rifle muzzles and bayonets are still sticking up through the soil.

The Ossuary at the French Cemetary is a very powerful experience. The cemetary is obviously littered with white crosses. The Ossuary however was built for the unidentified dead and was designed into sectors where they found the remains. Each sector "vault" has piles of bones and skulls which you can view through windows. 130,000 unidentified remains are in those vaults.

When you really think things are bad, just be thankful you are not in the basement of this building. Thanks for sharing that vid.

[Odd Man Out 1,283]

I've been there x2. The small windows are on the back side and are located about at knee height. We found human bone fragments on the Verdun battlefield when I was there in 2000. They still have most of the place posted off limits due to unexploded ordnance. The Verdun region and especially the U.S. cemetary at Meuse Argonne is quite the unforgettable experience.

[MT Predator 2,294]

Small world huh? Meuse Argonne is the largest American Cemetary outside the U.S.

Edited November 23, 2011 by MT Predator