A sad and yet uplifting story. It is posted elsewhere, though I’m surprised it hasn't had more coverage tbh, but a great job by all involved in making it happen.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=54W22gT7-R8
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No can't say I've seen that before. If I'm honest I'm never quite sure what to make of things like that.
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Saw it on pprune a week or so ago. It's what Americans do.
Mildly disturbed by it seemingly being used to promote Southwestern Airlines -that's where O'Leary got his ideas from.
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Southwesterns customer service is streets ahead of Ryanair...I’ll fly southwestern, never again for Ryanair. I’m not sure Americans are capable of being as deliberately obnoxious from a customer service perspective as Ryanair..
Can you imagine Ryanair even organising something like that, without charging the pilot for carrying his father. Extra cost as it’s an oversized bag. Make him bring his own flag. And then turn the ‘plane round in 20 minutes after leaving passenger queueing on the tarmac for 15 minutes before the planes even landed ;)
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>> Southwesterns customer service is streets ahead of Ryanair..
South Western Trains customer service is streets ahead of Ryan Air.
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tinyurl.com/y66tzc2g
Well it takes all sorts, I suppose. I am not one of those who can see the point of flying human remains around the world.
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>> Well it takes all sorts, I suppose. I am not one of those who can
>> see the point of flying human remains around the world.
Thread from PPRUNE is here:
www.pprune.org/rumours-news/624442-52-years-later-his-son-brings-him-home.html
I've no firm knowledge but suspect there's a fairly regular flow of remains of MIA's from Vietnam back home to US. The linked article suggests there's a process in place since nineties. Interring bodies near family or in military cemeteries would also seem normal - where there are family it's likely they'll want a grave to visit.
I'm sure we do same, with or without military honours, when remains of soldiers, sailors and airmen from 14-18, 39-45 and other conflicts are given up by sea or land. The only slight oddity here is the son being an airline pilot and arranging his roster so last leg is flown in his aircraft.
Nothing unusual really.
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All very odd and very American.
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I'm sure we do same, with or without military honours, when remains of soldiers, sailors
>> and airmen from 14-18, 39-45 and other conflicts are given up by sea or land.
Pretty sure for ww1/2, and i think korea as well, they are buried in a war cemetery in country.
Later conflicts they'd be brought back to the UK.
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>> Pretty sure for ww1/2, and i think korea as well, they are buried in a
>> war cemetery in country.
Hence the myriad commonwealth war grave sites spread across europe and the mid/far east. And a fitting tribute in situ they make. Its a concept the Americans cant grasp.
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Its a concept the Americans cant grasp.
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Not sure that's quite true.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Battle_Monuments_Commission
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My wife's grandfather's yongest brother is buried in a Commonwealth War Cemetery near Rimini. We have visited it twice and as far as I know we are the only members of his family ever to have visited; his parents were poor and elderly when he died and his siblings never go round to doing so, probably for similar reasons as most of them were married by the time the cemetery was completed.
Therefore, I can see every reason why the Americans bring their boys home. They do not have the tradition of overseas travel as we do and presumably feel the need (like I do) to visit a graveside from time to time.
I would agree that the Commonwealth War Graves Cemeteries are magnificant tributes, and where Uncle Eddie is buried is very beautiful and peaceful, but they are not the only way.
The Americans do this kind of thing very well, I suspect because they do not have the same 'officer and men' disparity in class as we do, so many people will have benefitted from the sort of experience that has been mentioned here.
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" Its a concept the Americans cant grasp."
Never visited the American cemetery at Madingley near Cambridge?
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>> " Its a concept the Americans cant grasp."
>>
>> Never visited the American cemetery at Madingley near Cambridge?
There's a big one at Colleville s Mer in Normandy too.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 18 Aug 19 at 13:00
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The only military cemetery I have ever visited was The Manila American Cemetery.
" It contains the largest number of graves of our military dead of World War II, a total of 17,058,"
www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/pacific/manila-american-cemetery
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I have a book somewhere about the way that the allies dealt with the war-dead after WW1, which seems to set the scene for the conflicts that followed. I'll dig it out and post the title. UK and US take their dead home these days thanks maybe to fewer casualties and maybe leaving bodies in a very hostile country is a bad idea.
After Waterloo, the UK repatriated bodies to the UK, they were er...reduced and used as fertilizer.
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>> " Its a concept the Americans cant grasp."
>>
>> Never visited the American cemetery at Madingley near Cambridge?
Yes, but the Americans still have a "bring our dead home" basic mentality, its part of their greater homeland mentality.
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It's a different culture, they do things differently. Two nations separated by a common language.
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>> It's a different culture, they do things differently. Two nations separated by a common language.
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I'm sure it's been said here before but America, particularly away from the east or west coasts, is culturally much more foreign then out neighbours in Europe.
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>> I'm sure it's been said here before but America, particularly away from the east
>> west coasts, is culturally much more foreign then out neighbours in Europe.
No, I don't think I agree with that. There are local differences, to be sure, but as a country then we're not so different.
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> I'm sure it's been said here before but America, particularly away from the east or
>> west coasts, is culturally much more foreign then out neighbours in Europe.
>>
Don't forget America is a big place, I've heard people from the fly over states think someone from NY or LA is as foreign to them as someone from Europe.
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>>And a fitting tribute in situ they make. Its a concept the Americans cant grasp.
"can't grasp" makes it seem like they tried and failed. Whereas I doubt they've tried or have any interest in trying.
They like their "leave nobody behind" approach. I think it's quite admirable. That might be my only thought or preference about my funeral; that it'd be nice to be buried or scattered in my own village wherever I die.
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>>>That might be my only thought or preference about my funeral; that it'd be nice to be buried or scattered in my own village wherever I die. <<<
My thoughts on the matter are wholly practical, and to sum it up, I do not give a s***t! It has been suggested that burial in the pit in the garage would be an appropriate ending. The presence of a body would probably reduce the value of the property, mitigating the impact of IHT. Although whether the revenue would accept that it is not an artificial avoidance tactic?
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>> Southwestern Airlines -that's where O'Leary got his ideas from.
I assume you mean "Southwest Airlines".
Southwest would be where virtually all airlines got their modern ideas from, not just the low cost carriers. Outstandingly good service. I used to commute out of Dallas Love Field with them very often.
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A son brings his dad home - sooty123
