Sunday, August 10, 2008

Beyond Faith...













Photo by - Endevourme
Writtn by Leutenant Bruce E Davis (Battle of Arnhem, World War 2 - 1944)

"...I am not trying to sound courageous, for courage was commonplace and heroism was the rule. God knows i was badly scared a good deal of the time...
...I learned this from the Arnhem operation, that men, born and bred as freemen, have a great strength and will power which they distrust until they need it. I saw men who were hungry, exausted, hopelessly outnumbered, men who by all the rules of warfare should have gladly surrendered to have it all over with, who were shelled until they were helpless psychopathics; and through it all they laughed, sang and died, and kept fighting.... "

Our own Independence day is near. There are very few people living today who have seen the pre-independence India and to tell us that freedom comes at a cost. Time makes things look faded, and we tend to feel that the spirit of independence day has become diluted. But i do believe what the Leutenant said above, that, "...men, born and bred as freemen, have a great strength and will power which they distrust until they need it" and that, if crisis comes, WE as India will stand united.
Also, many people today dont know that during World War-II, there were indian soldiers too, who faught against Axis Powers in Burma, north-africa and southern Europe under British command. During World War II the Indian Army became the largest all-volunteer force in history, rising to over 2.5 million men in size. There were total of 2,582,000 indian soldiers on various fronts, indians had 86,838 casualties, 64,354 wounded and 79,481 taken prisoners of war. There were 30 Victoria Crosses, the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces.
Last but not the least,
Jai Hind!!!

11 comments:

Junius said...

that pic is of 'rudraksh' hehe
:D!!

Solitaire said...

Very nice post.

My grandfather was scheduled to marry my grandmother when Gandhi went on his famous fast. My grandpa told his family that he would not marry if Gandhiji died! :)

Junius said...

#Solitaire
thank U :D
yeps the people were so devoted those times!

Ash said...

The image is lovely...powerful!

Junius said...

#Ash
/-...powerful!
yea thats wht comes to mind with rudrakh :D
thanku!

Nefariousoutlook said...

i liked the pic very much..nice post :)

Junius said...

#nefariousoutlook
thanku thanku :D

Parul Gupta said...

nice blog endevourme....adding u up...

Junius said...

#Parul Gupta
hey thanks!
:D

Rasika Mahabal said...

amazing pic!

Junius said...

#Rasika
thanks