Building on airport on war graves

[loopy 0]

I heard this on the news it realy is sick that the french want to build an airport on top of war graves theses people died trying to help France this is the thanks they get.

This extract was taken from ninemsn

PM backs campaign to stop French airportPrime Minister John Howard said he supported any campaign to oppose plans to build an airport over the graves of Australian troops in France.The French government has proposed to build a new airport on a site on the Somme, in north-western France, which includes the graves of British, Australian and other soldiers killed in two world wars.It includes the known graves of 61 Australians.The French Ambassador to Australia, Pierre Viaux, yesterday reportedly refused to take delivery of thousands of letters of Australians opposing the airport, calling it a stupid and absurd campaign."I'm sorry he said that if that's what he said and I've asked our foreign affairs people to convey my feelings on that to the ambassador," Mr Howard said. The prime minister said he did not believe Mr Viaux was expressing the views of the French people."I've found whenever I've gone to France, and I've gone to the battlefields of the Western Front on a number of occasions, and I've found a deep affection in France for what Australians did."There are more Australians buried in France than any country other than our own."Therefore, any campaign to keep sacred the memory of those people who died in France is a campaign that has my total support and I do not regard it as in any way trivial or childish."Mr Howard said Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer and Veteran Affairs Minister Danna Vale had expressed their concerns to the French government."We've put our position very strongly and we'll continue to resist any suggestion that there should be any lack of total respect to Australia's war dead in France, or indeed anywhere else in the world."Just remember that 45,000 Australians died on the Western Front and it's something that I know the French people will ever forget and it's certainly something the Australian people will never forget."Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson plans to visit France on April 17 where he will make representations to the French government objecting to the airport plan.

[LordZach 0]

well they're certainly unthankful for being alive

[ran 0]

lol .. we didn't even know about that

i agree with you although i'm french

the french people will never forget what did the allied soldiers during the WW1

i think that if the french people would know about this news , they would certainly react against the creation of the airport ...... but nobody talks about it here .. first time i've heard about it ...

[FallenPaladin 0]

Here in Germany you have to buy your graves and you have to pay for the time your body lies there. So if you can only pay for 20 years rest in peace, 21 years after you have been burried another poor soul will spare your graveplace with you.

Spooky thought, somehow...

But at least the graves of soldiers killed in war should be ever lasting places. They are memorials!

[ran 0]

in france you only have to pay for the tomb and for the emplacemnt , you've got to sign some official papers , and you should normally stay there as long as possible

in france , the common grave is only for unknow people or for people who don't have the money to pay a grave

but once you payed for the place ... you keep it

we got some very strict laws about graves , tombs , corpses and cemetary in france

in the case of the australian soldiers ... i think that the tombs and the corpses will be moved to another place

[FallenPaladin 0]

Somehow it`s poor, that you have to pay for your own grave

I think I`ll prefer to be burned and then having my ashes been thrown out of a driving car or flying plane...

[LordZach 0]

you don't just dig up fallen soldiers and move them when it gets inconveinent.

[FallenPaladin 0]

I hope they don`t dig up every Fallen-thing...

Today I`ll seal my doors very carefully, because you never know what these strange french will do...

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

I see a bit exagerated affection here! Certainly there may be graves there! And definetly there maybe soldiers there that deserves to get honoured. But after 10 years there is nothing left of a body. In Germany many graves are re-rented after 20 years. This is not for the purpose of making money (germany is still a country with honourable values). But because grave-yards here are located near the city or even within, they are very neat and clean and most have their own churches. We simply dont have the space to expand and there is also no logical moral reason for it.

Such a long time has passed since those Australian soldiers have been burried there! I seriously wonder if you ever went to France, and if so, did you visit this graveyard? Cause if not then I may assume that not many Australians did! Are you anoyed because you feel dishonoured as an Australian or because you realy care about those soldiers?

I think you can find a very good solution. The french could built a little beautiful chapel in one of the big cities nearby. A place where actually a few more Australians would go to and remember those soldiers! This is definetly a good solution for a tiny forgotten graveyard, that probably most Australians have forgotten about!

[ran 0]

this is what is usually done

[ran 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (LordZach @ April 17 2002,16:12)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">you don't just dig up fallen soldiers and move them when it gets inconveinent.<span id='postcolor'>

we do it , as long as they are honoured like they should , and what do you prefer : their tombs moved of 10km or an aircraft hangar instead ?

and ... for these 61 soldiers who have a grave , how many didn't even get one and got melted to the earth which saw their last fight ? milions of our grand fathers and grand uncles died there , how many families didn't receive the corpses of their relatives ?

and for these 61 soldiers we should stop the developpement of a region for an undeterminated time ? moving them is not a problem

did you know about that : during the 18th century , an entire cemetary has been moved from a side of paris to the other : 500 000 corpses and human rests were moved to give more space to the town to develop itself

this sort of situation didn't arrive very often , we'd normally change our plans for the airport , but some millions of euros and the economy of an entire region depend of this airport , the region of the somme is now turned in the direction of the future and is trying to forget all the horrors of the war

[theavonlady 2]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (FallenPaladin @ April 17 2002,16:14)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Here in Germany you have to buy your graves and you have to pay for the time your body lies there.<span id='postcolor'>

You mean they've got parking meters in German cemetaries?

[LordZach 0]

i'm sure they can find other places to build it. if someone wanted to build an airport on Arlington i wouldn't support disturbing the fallen and moving them somewhere else. that is sacred ground.

[ran 0]

lol right

but i really have never heard about the construction of an airport in the somme .. i live at about 800km far from this region lol

[loopy 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Albert Schweizer @ April 18 2002,01:25)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Such a long time has passed since those Australian soldiers have been burried there! I seriously wonder if you ever went to France, and if so, did you visit this graveyard? Cause if not then I may assume that not many Australians did! Are you anoyed because you feel dishonoured as an Australian or because you realy care about those soldiers?<span id='postcolor'>

I am actually british but an Australian resident.(moved to Australia last year)

Yes I have been to france and been to graves at Arneham and Normandy once with my old regiment and once with my uncle to Normandy and Pegusus Bridge he was at both.

I would feel disgusted about disturbing any war graves.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Many honourable people have died in the last centuries wars in europe. If you decided not to build houses where earth once was filled with blood or you find war-graves, then there wouldnt be much space between Germany and France you could build on! Believe me that! As rude as it sounds, but there are heroes that got far less attention than your Australian soldiers.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Just to give you some figures

WWII

55 Mio soldiers died, 27 mio were KIA, the rest died of hunger, cold and so on

19 Mio civillians died because of execution (on every side), hunger, rape, cold...

6 Mio Jews were killed during the Holocaust

3 Mio people were missed

IN TERMS OF NATIONS

20 Mio Russia

10 Mio China

4.8 Mio Germans during the war, 2.8 more after

5.8 Mio Poland

2 Mio Japan (200'ooo Hiroshima, 74'000 Nagasaki)

1.7 Mio Jugoslawia

600'ooo France

400'ooo England

300'ooo US

Now you see that only WWII itself has left many dead people on Europes soil.

Now if you want to be so sarcastic to calculate the surface of a dead corpus (approx 1m squared) then see what you get!

I am absolutely convinced that those australian soldiers need to be honoured, but there are moments in life where you have to consider ...

[joltan 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (theavonlady @ April 17 2002,17:44)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">You mean they've got parking meters in German cemetaries?  <span id='postcolor'>

Of course, you can only hope you have enough spare change when the reaperman finally gets you.

[Hardliner 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (FallenPaladin @ April 17 2002,15:14)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Here in Germany you have to buy your graves and you have to pay for the time your body lies there.<span id='postcolor'>

I wouldn't even buy myself a grave. Whats the point in wasting money that you could use while your alive? I see little use for money anyway but why buy a grave for when your dead? When I'm dead thats it! There won't be anyone around to be sad for me and I don't exspect it from anyone.

[ran 0]

moving their corpses (or at least their tombs ....) is not a problem , if it's done with the military honors due to the soldiers who fought for us

we are very gratefull , but it's now 85 years ago ...

in france , we don't see the point of being disgusted because of moving a grave (civilian or military) as long as it's made in the respect and with honor AND with the authorisation of the familly

[foxer 0]

ONe day all graves will be move,the world isn't getting smaller,unless we have another european war,or another ww3.One day when we die we all are going have to be turn into ashes,because one day theirs not going beenough land for the living and dead.I guess we gotta face facts.