I'll be thinking about my Dad and everyone else who saved us from, what would've been, a devasting defeat. Whenever I see the mad conga scenes from around Buckingham Palace, etc it makes me wonder how the Germans would've celebrated if they'd won ... ... doesn't bear thinking about. Watching the Breakfast new this morning did make me laugh though. Montgomery is there in his usual khaki while the German generals are kitted out in their usual pompous regalia ... .... Monty, looking like a provincial bank manager, shows them where to sign like he's begrudgingly granting them an overdraft
Makes you proud to be British and humility in equal measure. And a poignant reminder of how our forefathers came through six years of turmoil as we enter the seventh week of lockdown. Stay safe everyone
I had an uncle who was a desert rat... did not see him that much. Smoked a pipe, grew tomatoes, had lots of books about the Desert War and is the only person I knew who had a fixed wheel bicycle I agree long leather coats do look good..just like Shaft..
Will be thinking of my Grandad. He was born in 1926 so just a boy when he signed up. He was only involved in the latter years due to his age. He wasn't front line but part of a team that used to go in after the fighting and raid German offices to see what plans, maps and other useful information they could find. I know he carried explosives and blew safes open. He was in Gibraltar for a while keeping an eye on things just after the end of the war. He loved it there and was desperate to go back one day but my Gran refused to go abroad full stop so he never got. I visited there with my children a few years back and saw his regiment listed in the War Tunnels exhibition, so I like to think I lived his dream for him.
I've never understood why we as a nation have not celebrated this anniversary with a Bank Holiday. When we lived in France for five years it was held in high regard with cenotaph parades the norm just like we do in November, the whole village turned out to celebrate. Our early May Bank Holiday was hijacked by the union's and used to be called Labour day when as a nation we could all celebrate like we could have been doing today had it not been for Covid. Perhaps the Government could move the bank holiday to the 8th in future and not use it as a long weekend off.
I also had to spare a thought for the French Resistance in this area, SW France, who ferried out escaped POWs, downed airmen and specialist forces both men and women. Having travelled the back roads of France I was amazed at the amount of little scraps of marble, in hedgerows, on trees and pinned to the sides of barns, etc, roughly carved with the names of resistance fighters who'd been shot or executed by the Nazis. The dates are usually 1944/5 when they were running and killed people out of sheer spite. The ages, of the victims, are more often than not just 16/17 years old or not much older. I spent quite some time researching all of this, as the resistance always had a bad rep, and found myself in awe. For every person they got out to the coast, Spain, Gibraltar, etc they lost two of their own and they knew it. Before being killed they were tortured to give up their friends and the safe houses of ordinary people who hid escaping British service people. Dear me, what a terrible time to live through ... ... and how lucky we all are.
I happen to be reading The Cruel Sea at the moment. A wonderful book that, without any great plot twists and turns, shows the utter horror of life in convoys. Knowing each day could be your last. Watching people die in a burning sea. Saving the few who managed to escape a sinking merchant ship. Not knowing what you'd find when you went home on leave. Loved ones dead or grown apart or being unfaithful. And they carried on because it was right. I am in awe.
I read this the other day about Gino Bartali who was an elite cyclist during WW2 and how he helped the local resistance https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/52538289
Ah I couldn’t be bothered so just copied and pasted my post from facebook Long winded, but who cares, you have nowt else to do, have you? War must have been a horrible time, absolutely incomparable to today and that poxy coronavirus. You see human beings can cause more devastation than a virus, luckily there are more good than bad. Now back to my point, war, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Well Edwin and more latterly Frankie, you couldn’t be further from the truth from our perspective. No, hear me out. You’ve probably heard it, but war is exactly how mam met dad, Dad in the Navy, mam a welder in the yards. So from an extremely selfish point of view, war can be good for something. Apart from ridding the world of tyranny and absolute vermin, there will be millions of stories like ours. Never forget those that never made it, in fact very very few who made it are still alive today, but we all have that one thing in common. We all come from a stock who fought for their lives, gave everything for their nation for us to be able live as we do today. So you know what? They would love to see people celebrating not commiserating. So do as we will be doing in the street later today, but don’t be stupid, still practice social distancing and we can have a bigger party when it’s all done. There were a few campaign slogans during the war, “ careless talk costs lives”, the same can be said of today “Your country needs you”, today as much as it did in the forties So I will celebrate later today 2m apart from neighbours, raising glasses to the two most important people who I am apart from a damn sight more than that Here’s to our heavenly mam and dad, in fact all of our heavenly mams, dads, grandparents whoever they are, who you would love to be 2m distance from. You see, it isn’t much to ask at all is it?
My dad was over there in Belgium and France. He never spoke much about it not displayed his medals. The only thing he used to say was ' The only good German is a dead one'
Smug Near where we lived in France near to Angouleme south west France there is a huge Cross of Lorraine, a resistance symbol on a hillside surrounded by a grave yard with over 100 graves all containing resistance fighters, the view over the surrounding countryside is magnificent. As like you we found lots of roadside and inside forests small headstones erected at the scene of an execution. The area where we were was highly populated with resistance fighters and even when we lived there there were people in the village who wouldn't speak to families who were known or suspected of collaborating with the Germans. As a nation we were lucky not to be occupied like most of Europe, it must have been hell.
I’ve got my kit set up playing music from all generations (Beatles at present) and playing WC speech at 3pm. Got everyone in the street out in their front garden. Bunting all over. Balloons. Been lovely.
That's brilliant mate, wish I was there tbh. I've watched the TV and stopped work for the silence but was feeling a bit left out of it all. But I've just been up to the village for a small bottle of rum and some beers so I can have a Skype toast tonight. The shopkeeper wouldn't take my money, I was really choked up. I don't know if it's personal to her, or the village/area, but it stopped me in my tracks.
Sadly it’s got to a point where people want “children of the night” and “techno wonderland” are requested!!!!!
too busy celebrating ghandi nelson mandela steve biko che guevara to have a bank holiday for these real heroes
“If it’s not on the poster... We don’t ****in’ do it” is my normal response!!! But not been singing today. That’s a Sunday night thing. I’m fairly drunk right now!!! And probably sunburnt!!! But had a cracking day all in all
Great post Smug, I envy your access to recent history and would love to visit the sort of places you mention. I have only visited the South of France fleetingly a few times, without really being able to engage, but your post highlights the sacrifice that ordinary people gave for the benefit of us all.
‘’Our early May Day bank holiday was hijacked by the unions’’ You sure ? I thought 1st May ‘Labour Day’ or ‘Workers Day’ originated in the 19th century in the US.
