discussion Pause for thought...June 5th / 6th 1944

[spanner570]

I have been exchanging P.M.'s with Graham (Fenlander) over the last day or so and he reminded me that this Sunday/ Monday is the anniversary of Operation Overlord (the Allied landings in France)......

I'm not trying to blow my own trumpet in posting this nor am I looking for any self gratification or praise for the model, it's not my style. But if you fancy, take a few minutes to have a look at my 'Omaha Beach landing,1st wave' diorama. It's in the completed section of the G.B.s'. I'm very proud of this one and I look on it is as a tribute to all those young lads who fought and died for us...

So whether you look at the dio. or not, (most will have seen it anyway) when you are having a barby and enjoying yourselves over the w/end, spare a minute, and like Graham and I, raise your glass and toast those brave people, whatever nationality, who were crossing the Channel to France, particularily those who never came home.

Ron

 

[AlanG]

Having visited the beaches and the graves in France i can honestly say i will never forget. A very moving experience indeed

 

[geegad]

Nice Ron I think as time goes on the younger people the less they know I will be remembering them my own way going to my granddads grave bill shorthouse he took shrapnel in the ass from mine clearing on that very day

John

 

[Guest]

Great post and very appropriate ,getting across the pond to pay respects at the landing sites is definately on my to do list. How about adding a link to the thread Ron,btw great dio!

 

[Guest]

Nice one Ron. As I said to you earlier, I consider the D-Day campaign, As it is popularly but incorrectly known, should be operation Overlord, is probably the most important few days in modern history. If those brave men had failed on establishing the beach head at such tragic cost, where would we be today? We will never know that but my instinct tells me life cannot have had the freedoms we now take granted.

 

[stona]

We should all spare a thought for all the men who were involved in the campaign,particularly those who didn't make it home.

It's a great dio Ron whether you want me to say so or not:lol:

Cheers

Steve

 

[Guest]

Even though i was not born then it is a period in history that i will always remember, between stories from my grandad and historys teachings, it is a pity most of the youth of today don't really care so much and some don't even know about it.

scott

 

[Guest]

Great post Ron , if those young men had not done what they did then who knows what the world would be like now , although not related to D-Day my Grandad (dads side) fought in Burma (the only place I know he went) and other places but never he talked about it even to my grandma , my Papa who was Polish (mums side) fought the Russians and ended up as a POW again like my grandad would not talk about it , as a kid my Nana told us little ones please don`t ever ask Papa about the war , and we never did , what I do know that man hated the Russians till the day he left this planet .

about to sit down and watch Al Murrays road to Berlin series which I taped last week from one of the discovery/history channels , saw it a few years ago and its a great view , brings it home what it was all about from both sides , very moving

Richy

 

[AlanG]

That Al Muray shows are classic. Kids should watch that in school instead of learning about the aztecs etc etc

 

[geegad]

That sounds about right

Al Muray is quality but there is only one war doc that's worth watching over again and that's the world at war make the little buggers watch that

Geegad

 

[AlanG]

That sounds about right Al Muray is quality but there is only one war doc that's worth watching over again and that's the world at war make the little buggers watch that

Geegad

Bit too 'america saved the world' for me that series. Good but very one sided in my opinion

 

[Guest]

I have the world at war on dvd narrated by Mr Olivier himself i like it and i agree that it should be a viewing requirement in schools, the attatudes of the young men and women in the 30s and40s were different than they are nowand that is very sad to see. I will ensure that when my child is growing up he or she will always remember the sacrifices that young men and women endured to give us what we have today.

Scott

 

[Guest]

My Dad was involved in this, never spoke of it untill he became ill and i think sitting casually chatting to me in the hospital was a way of getting the last remnants of a time he wished to forget off his chest.

In brief he was there on the 4th, meeting up with members from the resistance, so as to recconoitre as much of the area for "unfriendlies" and make good for the landing. After several hours and events (which i refrain from repeating) he was unfortunately caught in a situation which lead him to be shot in the head. A Frenchman (who i later just knew as Alf when they managed to emmotionally reunite in the late 80's) saved his life by dragging him back to the landing craft, and sent him on his way home. After 6 months in a coma and 18 months further in an Oxford hospital, he had improved enough to return home.

 

[Guest]

Save also a thought for the Channel Islanders. Although I now live in Jersey I was during the war born & lived in Kingston Surrey. But having been here in Jersey for 50 years I now know a good number of Jerseymen some of whom were alive during the occupation of Jersey.

Imagine their excitement hearing about the Normandy landings, so close, & hoping for liberation being the only areas of Britain occupied by the Nazis. They like the French looked forward to liberation. It was not to be for they spent in isolation the remainder of the war, 11 months, cut off & were starving in the end. They were the last to be liberated in Europe on the 9th My 1945 having been occupied from the 1st July 1940.

Some more. Approx half the population moved to England before occupation many having never left Jersey in their life. Most of the men eligible joined the forces & the women worked in all the necessary wartime occupations. They were & still are very loyal to the crown.

Those remaining in Jersey lived a hard life. For instance one a Doctor looking after the pregnant women & young babies carried out his practice in Jersey & was apart from his wife & very young family for 5 years. A funny side he hoisted up hid a Jersey cow from the Germans on the first floor of his house. A large number of Jersey men were taken to Germany & kept in the concentration camps from which many did not return.

A client & friend, now long gone, engaged me to design & rebuild their premises. The day before demolition he showed me around & proudly exposed in the 2 foot thick granite part wall a niche. Still snuggly sitting well preserved therein lay a crystal radio set. They gathered the news each night (London calling with the dramatic bongs) & wrote it down a number of times. This was circulated each copied again & circulated. Very brave indeed as a concentration camp existence was the inevitable punishment.

Approx 10 years ago my wife & I sailed close to the landing beaches. It was an experience I will not forget. It brought home the scale of what was achieved. Many of the caissons remain, sticking up rather ugly but proud way out in the sea, in the area where the Mulberrys were positioned.

Sometime years before that we visited the British military cemetery near Bayeux. One side of the road a memorial with all the names listed. Across the road a just exquisite English garden with the crosses of all the British & Commonwealth soldiers lost. We saw Sergeants of 19, Lieutenants of 21, Captains of 24. Not a one to show public emotion I was sorely tried that day & the tears rolled & still do when I think of all those young men being English the pride of Britain & the Commonwealth.

There were in those landing forces Jersey & Guernsey men & boys. Eventually Liberation came to the Channel Isles & this day has been preserved & celebrated ever since.

Laurie

 

[Guest]

It is always good to hear stories like this Laurie, these are the things that the tv never tells you about.

scott

 

[spanner570]

I've just been listening to the B.B.C. News on Radio 2................

Researchers have found out that trade during the Neolithic period was far more widespread than previously thought.............

Not one mention that around now in 1944, young lads in their thousands were dying on the Normandy beaches fighting for our freedom.

Sometimes I really do get hacked off.

I will, and am thinking of those young men, even if the Beeb's Radio 2 might not think it worth a mention!

Ron

 

[geegad]

Well Ron all you've got to do is look what is front page news more people are interested in what job sheryl cole has got or what she is wearing than how many people died on this day for our freedom 67

years later

Not one program on BBC1 all day about overlord but plenty of crap LOOSEWOMEN!!!!!

But they have my thoughts and respect

John

 

[Guest]

So right Ron not a mention any where.

The largest armada in history. 8000 boats & ships with 11,000 aircraft performing 14000 sorties & 800 gliders. A pipeline being laid across the sea for petrol. 2 huge floating harbours. Thousands of machines & transport.

150,000 men the cream of all the allied countries in the first wave followed by hundreds of thousands then millions. Many British & Commonwealth men who had been fighting since 1939 five monstrous years. They were battle weary & worn putting their lives down yet again for another year on the line.

All that as you have said Ron not worth even a mention. Poor show.

Laurie

 

[Guest]

It really is a shame that they have not made mention of this at all. Their has been nothing said here either but i wouldn't expect it to. I do know of the sacrifice these men and women made to make our world what it is and how it could never be re-payed.

I have heard many stories from my grandparents who all lived in Europe during the war. One side in Holland and the other in Denmark. Although on of my grandfathers does not tell of most things. I do know he was in a German work camp till the end of the war. Clearly extremely lucky to survive.

I know what you mean when you say us young people have no idea what happened. I told some people today about the anniversary and they had no idea what operation overlord was. It is sad that something that massive has basically vanished from common knowledge. As the quote goes "Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." Winston Churchill.

Lest We Forget.

Kresten

 

[stona]

After 6 months in a coma and 18 months further in an Oxford hospital, he had improved enough to return home.

Thank heaven for that. I bet he was in the Churchill hospital,where I was born. Amazing to think that those war time buildings and "temporary" wards are still being used,at least they were in 2009/10 when I spent far to much time there with my mother.

That is an amazing story. There must be thousands of such stories which are known only to family which we will never hear. It seems a shame to me. A young man of twenty on Gold beach would now be a very old man in his mid nineties,old soldiers do fade away and it won't be long before we won't be able to ask anyone "what did you do in the war?"

Cheers

Steve