| ve day 19:35 - May 7 with 4263 views | digswellhoop |
tell me what you think 🤔 |  | | |  |
| ve day on 19:39 - May 7 with 2386 views | digswellhoop |
WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET
IF IWW2 HAPPENED TODAY I THINK WE'D STRUGGLE | | | |
| ve day on 20:00 - May 7 with 2301 views | numptydumpty |
| ve day on 19:39 - May 7 by digswellhoop |
WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET
IF IWW2 HAPPENED TODAY I THINK WE'D STRUGGLE |
My great grandad somehow survived the entirety of World War One and my grandad served from 1938 to 1946 in World War Two.
I never knew either, my grandad passed when I was six, vague memories for me, but would the world be a different place without it. Perhaps.
And like many, my grandad became a broken angry man, was not forgiven by his own father. PTSD follows so many veterans for years afterwards.
All war is wrong on the premises I have killed more than you, so I win.
It's all just very sad. [Post edited 7 May 20:00]
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| ve day on 20:08 - May 7 with 2274 views | colinallcars |
Yes indeed. |  | | |
| ve day on 20:22 - May 7 with 2234 views | loftboy |
My Dad was 6 when WW2 started and 13 when it finished, seeing as he left school at 14 it was most of his childhood. Leading up to his death in 2020 he wrote his memoirs.
He lived in Wandsworth,he used to walk to school with the girl that lived next door, one night there was an air raid, when he came out the shelter his next door house was no longer there, he never saw the girl again, he was never told what happened to her but kind of worked it out for himself as he got older.
After that incident he was shipped off to Wales, my Dad was left handed, in the Welsh school every time he was seen writing with it he was smacked over his knuckles with a 3 foot long ruler, he had to learn to write with his right hand.
When he was called up for national service in 1951 he joined the RAF where he was training to be a pilot, he had done 8 hours flying before they discovered he was colour blind! It was after that he was transferred to ground crew and moved to a new base where he met my mum who was a WRAF.
My mum had similarly had a tough childhood being the eldest girl in a family of 9 and ended up bringing up her younger siblings.(which is why she joined up at 17 to escape being my nans skivvy) |  |
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| ve day on 20:25 - May 7 with 2224 views | Gloucs_R |
My Granddad was 15 and was told he was a coward for not fighting so went to sign up the next day.
Got found out and was sent home. Joined again when he was old enough and fought in Korea.
We should never forget the ultimate sacrifice. [Post edited 8 May 15:37]
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| ve day on 20:41 - May 7 with 2168 views | stowmarketrange |
| ve day on 20:00 - May 7 by numptydumpty |
My great grandad somehow survived the entirety of World War One and my grandad served from 1938 to 1946 in World War Two.
I never knew either, my grandad passed when I was six, vague memories for me, but would the world be a different place without it. Perhaps.
And like many, my grandad became a broken angry man, was not forgiven by his own father. PTSD follows so many veterans for years afterwards.
All war is wrong on the premises I have killed more than you, so I win.
It's all just very sad. [Post edited 7 May 20:00]
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If the politician’s adult children were put in service and told that they’d be in the front line of any war,there wouldn’t be any more wars,but all the time they’re sending other people’s children it will continue.
My grandfather fought in WW1 and my uncle was killed in the assault on Italy in 1944.My father joined up as soon as he was 18 in April 1944,and was sent to Europe after training,but we never asked him the questions that we should’ve done when he was still alive and he never talked about his experiences.
They were a real golden generation who fought a war against a tyrant,and should always be remembered.Luckily most of us have never had to fight in the same circumstances thanks to their sacrifices. |  | | |
| ve day on 20:50 - May 7 with 2120 views | ted_hendrix |
Ex soldier here, let me tell you It didnt matter what was going on In your mind at the time but when you was on parade, stood to attention In complete silence and the 'Last Post' was being played by a Bugler It was a struggle to keep your composure, You'd see hard Men out of the corner of your eye struggling with emotion.
I dont and wont forget, good Men all of them........................
God bless them all. |  |
| My Father had a profound influence on me, he was a lunatic. |
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| ve day on 20:51 - May 7 with 2114 views | ericgen34 |
Quite right to mark the day, but why last Monday? It's tomorrow! |  | | |
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| ve day on 21:06 - May 7 with 2045 views | nix |
My dad enlisted from a then-colonial country with his brother at 19. The local rag said 'the (his surname) boys go to fight the Nazis'. He never returned home. He was captured having been cut off from Dunkirk and marched to a POW camp in Poland for the rest of the war and thereafter moved to England.
He was just over 6 stone at the end of the war. He saw some terrible things and never totally got over it. He would still have nightmares where he would scream out don't shoot until he died. There is huge sacrifice in war and tremendous courage in so many that had to fight or live through it. |  | | |
| ve day on 21:16 - May 7 with 1997 views | colinallcars |
They were rightly called the Golden Generation. I don't think we'll see their like again. | | | |
| ve day on 21:34 - May 7 with 1933 views | numptydumpty |
| ve day on 21:06 - May 7 by nix |
My dad enlisted from a then-colonial country with his brother at 19. The local rag said 'the (his surname) boys go to fight the Nazis'. He never returned home. He was captured having been cut off from Dunkirk and marched to a POW camp in Poland for the rest of the war and thereafter moved to England.
He was just over 6 stone at the end of the war. He saw some terrible things and never totally got over it. He would still have nightmares where he would scream out don't shoot until he died. There is huge sacrifice in war and tremendous courage in so many that had to fight or live through it. |
All soldiers on all sides are the victims Nix, absolutely agree completely.
Very sad for your dad's experiences.
Sadly more veterans of the Falklands conflict have passed due to subsequently taking their own lives, than those that actually sadly passed during the war itself.
We sometimes get worked up over silly little things in everyday life or even on here but remembrance of our heroes we should be reminded often.
An ex work colleagues husband was always agitated but he had seen conflict in Aghanistan and Iraq. He could not understand at all why his wife, my ex colleague would get all worked up by office politics. It does all remind us at times, but sacrifices are often easily forgotten. | |
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| ve day on 22:08 - May 7 with 1831 views | Dorse |
My dad was a kid in London when the war started. He was evacuated to the country and hated it, so ran away back to London. Twice. The second time, they said 'sod it' and let him stay. So he had the blitz at night and watched various air battles from doorways during the day. He never really spoke about being scared but, to be fair, he was pretty close-lipped about the whole thing. Some things you don't talk about to your kids, I suppose.
After the war, he fell for a German lass and they ended up emigrating to Canada. Her brother was a bomber pilot: so, when Dad was in the blitz looking up, he was in the blitz looking down. Go figure.
Members of my Dad's family served. One, I remember, was a sergeant in one of the Airborne brigades. He is buried where he fell on Sicily.
Neither me nor my family would've been here today if not for that generation. I cannot thank them enough. My daughter is an Army cadet and she is going to visit a 102 yr old former service woman tomorrow, for a ceremonial flag raising. The young haven't forgotten. |  |
| 'What do we want? We don't know! When do we want it? Now!' |
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| ve day on 22:18 - May 7 with 1802 views | daveB |
Both my Grandads fought in the war, one was in the Navy which he joined in his own words so he could meet some women and he ended up fighting Germans instead. When he was ill in hospital with a few weeks to go he asked the nurse if he could have some whiskey that I had got him from america. She said "Oh do you have grand children over in America", he answered "Probably, I was stationed over there for a few months during the War and a had a lovely time"
My other Grandad was in the Airforce and later worked in the war rooms for Churchill
This is taken from an article about him with a bit about his part in VE Day
"I was born in Balmoral Castle and I grew up in Windsor Castle …” Tony Jack told me proudly without bragging, “… they were both pubs in Canning Town.” It was a suitably auspicious beginning for an East End hero who was barely out of his teens before he joined the RAF and sent this picture home inscribed, “To Mother, Myself in a rear cockpit of a Harvard with the sun in my eyes. Love Tony.” Yet destiny had greater things in store for Tony, he was appointed to secret government work in Princes Risborough, where his sharp young eyes qualified him as an expert in photographic interpretation of aerial surveys, snooping on Jerry. If Tony spotted activity behind enemy lines, the information was relayed to our spies in the field who went to make a reconnaissance.
From there, young Tony was transferred to work in the Cabinet War Rooms deep beneath Whitehall where he barely saw daylight for weeks on end, taking solace in rooms lit with ultraviolet to induce the sensation of sunlight. Tony was involved in developing photographs of the blitz and making maps, but at the culmination of hostilities he was brought the document that ended the war, to photograph it and make fifty copies. With his outstanding eye for detail, Tony noticed that the date had been altered in ink from 7th May to 8th May 1945, and, with the innocent audacity of youth, Tony tentatively asked Winston Churchill if he would prefer this aberration photographically removed. “The Americans wanted the war to end on one date and the Russians wanted it to end on another,” growled the great man to the impertinent young whippersnapper in triumph, “But I got my way, May 8th!” And thus the correction duly remained in place upon the historic document.
Link to whole article is her if you are bored, he sadly passed away in 2017
https://spitalfieldslife.com/2016/11/24/tony-jack-trumans-chauffeur/ |  | | |
| ve day on 22:21 - May 7 with 1786 views | Lblock |
My thoughts are that the lack of energy behind this milestone VE Day in suburban London is a disgrace
Everything about Victory in Europe should celebrated loudly and proudly every year and these landmark days even more so.
Those who sacrificed so much……
Eternally grateful to them all and such a shame that patriotism is becoming more and more and more diluted with each passing generation. |  |
| Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal |
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| ve day on 22:27 - May 7 with 1760 views | The_Beast1976 |
| ve day on 21:34 - May 7 by numptydumpty |
All soldiers on all sides are the victims Nix, absolutely agree completely.
Very sad for your dad's experiences.
Sadly more veterans of the Falklands conflict have passed due to subsequently taking their own lives, than those that actually sadly passed during the war itself.
We sometimes get worked up over silly little things in everyday life or even on here but remembrance of our heroes we should be reminded often.
An ex work colleagues husband was always agitated but he had seen conflict in Aghanistan and Iraq. He could not understand at all why his wife, my ex colleague would get all worked up by office politics. It does all remind us at times, but sacrifices are often easily forgotten. |
"All soldiers on all sides are the victims"
If there were no soldiers then there would be far fewer wars; therefore, I don't think they are victims really. They are, in fact, one of the causes (or, at the very least, enablers) of wars. Perhaps not years ago, when they didn't have any access to information and facts like we do now and so were taken advantage of by way of telling them they were doing it for their country and they didn't/couldn't know otherwise, but certainly in this day and age anyway. [Post edited 7 May 22:39]
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| ve day on 22:38 - May 7 with 1699 views | numptydumpty |
| ve day on 22:27 - May 7 by The_Beast1976 |
"All soldiers on all sides are the victims"
If there were no soldiers then there would be far fewer wars; therefore, I don't think they are victims really. They are, in fact, one of the causes (or, at the very least, enablers) of wars. Perhaps not years ago, when they didn't have any access to information and facts like we do now and so were taken advantage of by way of telling them they were doing it for their country and they didn't/couldn't know otherwise, but certainly in this day and age anyway. [Post edited 7 May 22:39]
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In countries such as ours they have a choice
Other countries people still have no choice to be a soldier.
It's nations leaders that start wars and many that fight are not choosing this way. They are enforced. | |
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| ve day on 22:41 - May 7 with 1684 views | The_Beast1976 |
| ve day on 22:38 - May 7 by numptydumpty |
In countries such as ours they have a choice
Other countries people still have no choice to be a soldier.
It's nations leaders that start wars and many that fight are not choosing this way. They are enforced. |
There is always a choice. Nobody can force anybody else to do something. I'd rather be killed than be a soldier. I'm not fighting for anyone, particularly not those I trust the least (such as those in authority), unless I want to do so because I have made my own decision to do so on the facts and not on someone else's say so [Post edited 8 May 10:19]
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| ve day on 22:51 - May 7 with 1656 views | kensalriser |
We shouldn't forget. We especially shouldn't forget when we see people who aspire to be like those who were defeated. |  |
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| ve day on 22:54 - May 7 with 1643 views | ted_hendrix |
We were stationed during the late 60's In Celle In what was known then as West Germany, our barracks and some of the blocks were used by German Officers during the Second World War and those Officers were In charge at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
We were wrongly (IMO) encouraged to visit Belsen whilst driver training near the camp, they put It to a vote between us If we wanted to go In or not I voted no but was outvoted so I gave In and went Inside with the rest of the Lads, there are no words to describe It, I knew what was coming but was horrified and shocked In equal measures.
It's sometimes all meaningless words, standing there In silence just over 20 Years after the war was finished looking at huge mass graves, you just can't take It In.
We'll fck this beautiful planet up for good one day. | |
| My Father had a profound influence on me, he was a lunatic. |
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| ve day on 23:20 - May 7 with 1569 views | connell10 |
I'm not what you would call a patriot, but it makes me kinda proud that this small island stood on its own for a time against the might of the German army. Also I'll always have time for the men and women whol lost their lives defending the freedoms we have today. |  |
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| ve day on 04:51 - May 8 with 1387 views | cyprusmel |
My grandfather was in the army in the 1st world war and my father in the RAF in the 2nd.
My mothers cousin Edward was captured and made to work on the Burma railway and died the day after the camp was liberated. He is buried in the war cemetery in Kantchanaburi in Thailand not far from the Burma border, I have been there and it is very well kept and very clean.
Strange thing, when I asked a young man (20's) where the grave was and gave the name, without consulting books or charts he instantly told me where it was and as you know there are hundreds and hundreds of graves, how ? | | | |
| ve day on 04:56 - May 8 with 1381 views | cyprusmel |
The ordinary man in the street never wins a war whatever the outcome he is always the loser.
Most wars if not all are caused by politics and the desire for more territory and power. | | | |
| ve day on 05:22 - May 8 with 1347 views | numptydumpty |
| ve day on 22:41 - May 7 by The_Beast1976 |
There is always a choice. Nobody can force anybody else to do something. I'd rather be killed than be a soldier. I'm not fighting for anyone, particularly not those I trust the least (such as those in authority), unless I want to do so because I have made my own decision to do so on the facts and not on someone else's say so [Post edited 8 May 10:19]
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In some countries they would then say they would murder members of your close family if you did not go to war and you would know that to be true
You are speaking from the comfort of a country that despite its failings would never do such things
There are many horrific reasons for war and none of them are simply explained by the fact that its the soldiers fault for going to war
Thankfully in our country 80 years ago, many men made the ultimate sacrifice that has created ours and your ability to have freedom today
If all those men then had made the choice you are suggesting you would have made and all of them also should have made, your life today would have been very different
But you speaking from the comfort of your own home, with all the benefits of freedom, some do not have anywhere near such luxuries and blackmail and torture where none of those exist, come back and say what you would do.
So many men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice and we should never forget their bravery in doing so for all the luxuries and comfort we live in today
War is horrific but it is far from straightforward.
These people that passed to secure our freedoms really deserve our gratitude. If they had taken the choice you suggest, we would be a country in a totally different sense of freedom. We would not have any.
They all totally deserve our respect and gratitude. | |
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| ve day on 06:38 - May 8 with 1290 views | joe90 |
What do I think about VE Day? Remember the sacrifice and don’t glorify war. Over 1.5 million conscripts signed up to defend our country.
My great-grandfather was professional soldier and served during WW1. He shared many stories and observations about his experience with my Mum and Uncle before he died. One that was told and really stuck with me was how some of the conscripts struggled in combat. It really brought home that these were ordinary people and it was the same in WW2. In some ways, it may have been worse as the memory of WW1 was still fresh. Makes me feel proud, but also very sad. |  | | |
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