Thank you. Sadly my father never fully recovered - he died at the age of 52. Which seems even more poignant to me, now, as I am older than he ever reached, and I see all those wonderful old men on TV today in their late 80s and realise he would have been like them, now.
As a military historian, I get terminally fed up with the Hollywoodisation of history to the point of blatant lies.
My late FiL (Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders) arrived on +3 having already fought on the Somme and at Passendal in WW1 and been on the retreat from St Valery (The Scottish Dunkirk) already in WW2. He got his men out by hijacking a French ship. He was still there when they knocked down the doors of Kz Belsen- the only bit I could never get him to talk about. He fetched up as town Major in a German Ruhr town- Nerheim- at the end of it all.
my husband and I were 7 at the time of D-Day ( yes we are THAT old lol) we compared memories and neither of us remembered anything, we wonder if our parents deliberately shielded us from war news
i remember going with my parents to buy on the black market. i still remember what you got where. i have rationing books left from that time.
both my husband and i remember air raid drills we lived in different parts of the country but both had our bathroom windows painted - his yellow, mine black - so a light could be kept on in there
both our fathers were too old to be in the service where I live now there is a man who served in WW2, Korea and Viet Nam he lied to get into the Navy. since he was from a water area they wanted him. he disliked the Navy and switched to the army when he could.
we wonder if our parents deliberately shielded us from war news
I would guess they would have - I was about 5 when there was the Cuba Crisis and we came, it seems, very close to nuclear war - but I knew nothing about it, even though my parents must have been very worried.
I have been really surprised to know that you had rationing - somehow I had always thought of the US as a land of plenty during WW2 - it is fascinating to know that I was wrong. And also that you had air-raid precautions. I am always so pleased to learn something new - thank you!
Yes - the low-tech for planning, monitoring, and weather forecasting, seems like dowsing rods and divination to us now, doesn't it?* (Which reminds me - last week I saw a man with dowsing rods walking along the road beside our airport - I wonder what he was planning?)
I really don't know if that 2.5% included those who died later of their wounds - but it is a surprisingly low figure, isn't it? And it doesn't include, I'm sure, those who were in the first wave but then died in fighting in later days and weeks.
It is like realising that the percentage of the male population of Britain who were killed in WW1 was much lower than I had presumed. (Again, of course, there were a lot more who survived but then died young in the next 5 or 6 years as a direct result.)
*I was going to say 'and carrier pigeons' - but then, of course, they really did still use carrier pigeons...
I'm just listening now to NPR coverage of D-Day. I'd forgotten that your dad was there, and just how young he was. My nephews just turned 17 and I can't even imagine them doing that! They just left for summer camp, and my sister is worried about white water rafting!
I do wonder how many more of these memorials will have actual veterans. It's been 70 years. As a teenager I knew someone who was there too, and he's been gone for years now. It seems so much more real when you hear the stories from someone first hand. (J told me once that the reason he was there to tell me those stories was that he did his best to avoid actual heroics)
I did have a first-hand connection to another odd and mostly forgotten WWII story-- The Japanese Balloon Bombs. It was a sunday school picnic, five children and one adult were killed. I believe it was the only fatal attack on the mainland US. Archie Mitchell (who survived the attack only disappear 15 years later in Viet Nam) was the brother of a friend of the family. I wonder how much longer
( ... )
Eighteen still seems like children to us, doesn't it?
Being able to talk to people who were actually there was important - now it is important to write down what they said, for history is really as much about the individual at ground level as the big picture.
My 'voice of WW2' was not my Dad - who died too young, before he felt like talking about such things, or I thought to ask. It was, rather, my Uncle Eric - but I wish I had more tales from my dad.
I gather that this is the last official commemoration of D-Day at which they expect there to be veterans - although many of those who are still alive say they hope to return again.
ETA - I forgot to say that I saw a programme about the Balloon Attacks on TV a few years ago - how fascinating to have a person to person link to that.
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My late FiL (Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders) arrived on +3 having already fought on the Somme and at Passendal in WW1 and been on the retreat from St Valery (The Scottish Dunkirk) already in WW2. He got his men out by hijacking a French ship. He was still there when they knocked down the doors of Kz Belsen- the only bit I could never get him to talk about. He fetched up as town Major in a German Ruhr town- Nerheim- at the end of it all.
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Oh yes - you really must - I do and I am not a historian.
What an amazing history your late FiL had. Now he sounds like the sort of man they really should make a film about.
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we compared memories and neither of us remembered anything,
we wonder if our parents deliberately shielded us from war news
i remember going with my parents to buy on the black market.
i still remember what you got where.
i have rationing books left from that time.
both my husband and i remember air raid drills
we lived in different parts of the country
but both had our bathroom windows painted - his yellow, mine black - so a light could be kept on in there
both our fathers were too old to be in the service
where I live now there is a man who served in WW2, Korea and Viet Nam
he lied to get into the Navy. since he was from a water area they wanted him.
he disliked the Navy and switched to the army when he could.
Reply
I would guess they would have - I was about 5 when there was the Cuba Crisis and we came, it seems, very close to nuclear war - but I knew nothing about it, even though my parents must have been very worried.
I have been really surprised to know that you had rationing - somehow I had always thought of the US as a land of plenty during WW2 - it is fascinating to know that I was wrong. And also that you had air-raid precautions. I am always so pleased to learn something new - thank you!
Reply
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I really don't know if that 2.5% included those who died later of their wounds - but it is a surprisingly low figure, isn't it? And it doesn't include, I'm sure, those who were in the first wave but then died in fighting in later days and weeks.
It is like realising that the percentage of the male population of Britain who were killed in WW1 was much lower than I had presumed. (Again, of course, there were a lot more who survived but then died young in the next 5 or 6 years as a direct result.)
*I was going to say 'and carrier pigeons' - but then, of course, they really did still use carrier pigeons...
Reply
I do wonder how many more of these memorials will have actual veterans. It's been 70 years. As a teenager I knew someone who was there too, and he's been gone for years now. It seems so much more real when you hear the stories from someone first hand. (J told me once that the reason he was there to tell me those stories was that he did his best to avoid actual heroics)
I did have a first-hand connection to another odd and mostly forgotten WWII story-- The Japanese Balloon Bombs. It was a sunday school picnic, five children and one adult were killed. I believe it was the only fatal attack on the mainland US. Archie Mitchell (who survived the attack only disappear 15 years later in Viet Nam) was the brother of a friend of the family. I wonder how much longer ( ... )
Reply
Being able to talk to people who were actually there was important - now it is important to write down what they said, for history is really as much about the individual at ground level as the big picture.
My 'voice of WW2' was not my Dad - who died too young, before he felt like talking about such things, or I thought to ask. It was, rather, my Uncle Eric - but I wish I had more tales from my dad.
I gather that this is the last official commemoration of D-Day at which they expect there to be veterans - although many of those who are still alive say they hope to return again.
ETA - I forgot to say that I saw a programme about the Balloon Attacks on TV a few years ago - how fascinating to have a person to person link to that.
Reply
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