T P O

T   P   O
The Patient Ox (aka Hénock Gugsa)

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** TPO **
A personal blog with diverse topicality and multiple interests!


On the menu ... politics, music, poetry, and other good stuff.
There is humor, but there is blunt seriousness here as well!


Parfois, on parle français ici aussi. Je suis un francophile .... Bienvenue à tous!

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Thursday, June 6, 2019

A parade in a land far, far away ! ~ by Hénock Gugsa


Please click inside this box to enlarge.
A parade in a land far, far away ! 
~ by Hénock Gugsa ~
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     The place:  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ... Sidist-Kilo (Martyrs' Square).
     It was either 1953 or 1954, I'm not quite sure,  ...  I was just a tiny toddler under the care of a long-time family nurse-maid.  Her son and the "Kagnew" battalion of Imperial Guard soldiers in which he belonged were being deployed to Korea.*  These sons of Ethiopia were on a tour  of duty as part of a U.N. coalition to fight against communist North Korean and Chinese forces.
     The occasion of the parade was to cheer and to give a prideful and patriotic send-off to the soldiers prior to their departure to Korea.  Tri-color flags (Green-Yellow-Red) of all kinds ... pennants and miniature hand-held flags were everywhere!
A stationary military band played marching music while a long procession of representative troops neatly, deftly, and smartly marched up to and around the Square in front of wildly cheering crowds!  Also in review were military armored-vehicles, tanks, and Howitzers (I think).
     My nurse-maid hoisted me up on her shoulders, and so I was able to get the greatest thrill that no 5-year old ever experienced.  To this day, my memory of that day remains fresh and unextinguished.  Nowadays, whenever I hear mention of  Korea,  that distant memory of the first parade I attended pops in my head.  My old nurse-maid, her son, and probably all of those soldiers who paraded that day are long gone, but their memory remains.  Also, and in conclusion, I can declare that, along with nostalgia,  a great pride in my old native land still resides in me! 
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* "The Ethiopian Kagnew Battalions were three successive battalions drawn from the 1st Division Imperial Bodyguard sent by Emperor Haile Selassie I between June 1951 and April 1954 as part of the United Nations forces in the Korean War. Even after the armistice, a token Ethiopian force remained in the country until 1965."
~ Wikipedia
 

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