Age Shall Not Weary Them
Well what did you think I was going to blog about today, Dear Reader? No, my Dad wasn't involved in D-Day and the following eleven months. Possibly cos he was a bit young and didn't get called up til late on in 1944. There was talk, apparently, of him being sent East to deal with the Japs, but that's another story. No, H's Dad wasn't involved in D-Day. He wasn't considered healthy enough to be a soldier.
However Portsmouth was very involved, both in the build-up to and the execution of D-Day and the following eleven months. Troops and equipment were parked up along roads all along the Hampshire coast. Many of them embarked from Gosport, on 5th June. Unlike today, which is sunny with a moderate breeze, D-Day was overcast - with a moderate breeze. I've been on the Solent in a 'moderate breeze'. The hovercraft slips around on the waves in a most interesting manner. I gather the ships, then landing craft, were decidedly nausea inducing, despite the anti-sea-sickness pills issued. Maybe ginger biscuits would have done as good a job? With the British panacea of course, a cup of tea.
Anyhow, there were commemorative events on Southsea Common yesterday near the War Memorial. There was a drumhead service, there was even a mock landing staged by modern soldiers (Commandos? Marines?) Apparently much respect was shared between the soldiers of today and those of seventy years ago. There was a display a by the Red Arrows, which roared across Portsmouth to get there!
In France there were commemorative events - services, Masses, celebratory fireworks, tours of the five beaches, etc. Today there are more. Apparently about 650 UK veterans are expected to be going - one of them did a parachute drop to commemorate the one he and many others did seventy years ago yesterday. He was one of the few survivors - survivors of Nazi bullets and time! There was a piper, son of the piper who piped to encourage his comrades up the beach. There are survivors from Canada and the USA, survivors from France - civilians, Resistance members, French soldiers, there are survivors from Germany - because after all this time we can't still bear the old grudges, forgiveness is vital, there are world leaders - most of whom weren't alive at the time, there are world leaders who were - the Queen for one!
And the rest, as they say, is history. Taught in schools, in TV programmes, online. For a few moments we look at the old men and women standing proud in their berets and medals, then we look at the headstones in the cemeteries. Heck, most of them were younger than S, D, Niece or Nephews, though some were in their late twenties and thirties. As one of the veterans said today, "We aren't the heroes. Those who didn't come back, those who died here, they're the heroes!"
Y'all have a good commemorative day now!
However Portsmouth was very involved, both in the build-up to and the execution of D-Day and the following eleven months. Troops and equipment were parked up along roads all along the Hampshire coast. Many of them embarked from Gosport, on 5th June. Unlike today, which is sunny with a moderate breeze, D-Day was overcast - with a moderate breeze. I've been on the Solent in a 'moderate breeze'. The hovercraft slips around on the waves in a most interesting manner. I gather the ships, then landing craft, were decidedly nausea inducing, despite the anti-sea-sickness pills issued. Maybe ginger biscuits would have done as good a job? With the British panacea of course, a cup of tea.
Anyhow, there were commemorative events on Southsea Common yesterday near the War Memorial. There was a drumhead service, there was even a mock landing staged by modern soldiers (Commandos? Marines?) Apparently much respect was shared between the soldiers of today and those of seventy years ago. There was a display a by the Red Arrows, which roared across Portsmouth to get there!
In France there were commemorative events - services, Masses, celebratory fireworks, tours of the five beaches, etc. Today there are more. Apparently about 650 UK veterans are expected to be going - one of them did a parachute drop to commemorate the one he and many others did seventy years ago yesterday. He was one of the few survivors - survivors of Nazi bullets and time! There was a piper, son of the piper who piped to encourage his comrades up the beach. There are survivors from Canada and the USA, survivors from France - civilians, Resistance members, French soldiers, there are survivors from Germany - because after all this time we can't still bear the old grudges, forgiveness is vital, there are world leaders - most of whom weren't alive at the time, there are world leaders who were - the Queen for one!
And the rest, as they say, is history. Taught in schools, in TV programmes, online. For a few moments we look at the old men and women standing proud in their berets and medals, then we look at the headstones in the cemeteries. Heck, most of them were younger than S, D, Niece or Nephews, though some were in their late twenties and thirties. As one of the veterans said today, "We aren't the heroes. Those who didn't come back, those who died here, they're the heroes!"
Y'all have a good commemorative day now!