The few
Im feeling tearful. Partly because ive farcebooked some words i hope from a song called "Journeys End" possibly from a film of the same name and recorded about 1931 by Peter Dawson. I have the disc but can't play it at present...its backed by "the Veterans Song" which i also have on CD but i haven't found "Journeys End" yet....or the alternative tuned "on the road to Mandalay" i have on 78 but never found on CD (they always use the other one!)
But i digress. Some songs always make me cry for that which is gone....
What got me there was the commemoration of the start of the Battle of Britain - which by denying Goering air supremacy of our skies delayed, and then cancelled Operation Sealion, and probably saved us the War.
Much is said of the burden on the pilots of the RAF. They are in their 90s now, pretty spritely 90s sometimes... But back then they were young enough to appreciate the adrenaline, the admiration, the thrill of being young, in control of a powerful machine, and pitting their skills against another in gladatorial conflict.
Theres a lot said of the right men in the right place at the right time. And of betrayal in the forced repatriation to Stalins Poland after the war of Polish flyers who fought then.
A time when all pulled together - and when crime mushroomed in the blackout - the worst of times and the best of times. Some blossomed under their wartime responsibilities in a way they wouldn't in peace (and didn't in later life) although many were broken by what they saw and were forced to do.
But the right men with the right tools at the right time proved sufficient.
Lets remember a time of sacrifice.
If such a time were to come again the threats would be different but the sacrifice the same. I like to think that in an open war for survival the challenge would be met as it was then and that the political guidance would also be from the right man at the right time.
I've lost the thread and I'm drivelling.
Never mind
Thank you, veterans one and all, still here and gone before.
But i digress. Some songs always make me cry for that which is gone....
What got me there was the commemoration of the start of the Battle of Britain - which by denying Goering air supremacy of our skies delayed, and then cancelled Operation Sealion, and probably saved us the War.
Much is said of the burden on the pilots of the RAF. They are in their 90s now, pretty spritely 90s sometimes... But back then they were young enough to appreciate the adrenaline, the admiration, the thrill of being young, in control of a powerful machine, and pitting their skills against another in gladatorial conflict.
Theres a lot said of the right men in the right place at the right time. And of betrayal in the forced repatriation to Stalins Poland after the war of Polish flyers who fought then.
A time when all pulled together - and when crime mushroomed in the blackout - the worst of times and the best of times. Some blossomed under their wartime responsibilities in a way they wouldn't in peace (and didn't in later life) although many were broken by what they saw and were forced to do.
But the right men with the right tools at the right time proved sufficient.
Lets remember a time of sacrifice.
If such a time were to come again the threats would be different but the sacrifice the same. I like to think that in an open war for survival the challenge would be met as it was then and that the political guidance would also be from the right man at the right time.
I've lost the thread and I'm drivelling.
Never mind
Thank you, veterans one and all, still here and gone before.