Some fantastic, and very moving stories today. Those people were remarkable in what they did, and it has been a pleasure to listen to them, and hear well deserved tributes.
The downside of the day is looking in this thread, and seeing some of the awful comments by a couple of posters who no doubt think they're being clever in some way. The word troll is far too kind to them.
Well said, but there are those who just love to spoil threads sad really they have nothing better to do
To the guys who "learned about this in school" that hardly compares with paying a bit of respect to people who gave their lives for you. Today was as much about the ones who lost their lives on d-day and during the war, as it was about those who were there.
Did you see that French towns and villages have an elegance that few places in the UK can match.
Yes hubby and I have just said that, There was a couple live by us she was a a land girl he was a german pilot prisoner of war, they wed after the war her family never ever spoke to her again they went to Germany many many times to his family she said they love her from the start .
True love. Sad her parents couldn't accept though.
Where i grew up as a child, our neighbours daughter courted and eventually married a German Jewish guy who had fled Germany. He drove a Mercedes Benz which of course back in the 50's was very posh! Also by then my fascination with cars had started so each time i saw this Mercedes outside i used to wander around having a look, but also hang around for another reason too. He'd always bring some sweets for me and let me sit in his car!
Heartrending stories. I am very interested in all this for as well as recorded acts of humane bravery there were lots of acts of little kindnesses that kept people going.
My father (86) told me one this week.
His father served in the 1st World War and of 7 brothers and cousins who enlisted just three (including grandad) came home. When the Second World War happened he was too old to serve and was a gamekeeper.
Nearby was a site where allied aircraft parts were being manufactured and Italian POWs were made to work lighting oil cans etc to create smoke to disguise the site from German bombers.
My grandad would regularly visit the Italians, giving them cigarettes, drink and food and helping them with their English. He wanted to know that they were being treated ok - to him they were just "lads caught up in this bloody nightmare."
My Mum often used to say War brought a lot of people closer together. Everyone was 'in the same boat'.
The extraordinary stories of humanity have always fascinated me as it really brings home the whole craziness of war/s, but more than anything, the ability of those able to rise above and beyond it. People of decent moral code toward others, some of whom put their own lives at risk in doing so.
Did you see that French towns and villages have an elegance that few places in the UK can match.
I think that's maybe the comparative glamour of the unfamiliar. Don't be seduced by Bayeux - it is a beautiful town but it largely escaped any damage and is not typical of the region. Other towns along the coast and also inland - particularly Saint-Lô, the county town of Manche and south - they were damaged by bombing, fighting and fire and were quickly and unimaginatively rebuilt in the 50s to provide housing for the local population.
There are many distinctly ugly, characterless towns... but then, a few miles to the side and there are beautiful half-timbered, elegant buildings, old bridges, lovely churches with original stained glass windows. But a lot is grey and not at all elegant. Even Caen centre has some beautiful old buildings but much of it is concrete ugliness - especially on the outskirts where council housing, graffiti and crime rules.
Go east along the coast from Ouistreham and there are lots of gothic-y houses which have do have an elegance and interest, though. Planners here are a lot less obsessed with putting back what has gone before and there are some interesting buildings. Also, small-town France is generally cleaner (less litter) and has less vandalism than comparable areas in the UK.
Where i grew up as a child, our neighbours daughter courted and eventually married a German Jewish guy who had fled Germany. He drove a Mercedes Benz which of course back in the 50's was very posh! Also by then my fascination with cars had started so each time i saw this Mercedes outside i used to wander around having a look, but also hang around for another reason too. He'd always bring some sweets for me and let me sit in his car!
This made me smile
My Mum often used to say War brought a lot of people closer together. Everyone was 'in the same boat'.
It's a beautiful almost cloudless, calm warm sunny afternoon and I'm enjoying the Freedom to do as I please, 70 years today and after 25 years on this earth myself, I still cannot thank the heroes on D-Day enough for the Privilege of us being Free today
I think that's maybe the comparative glamour of the unfamiliar. Don't be seduced by Bayeux - it is a beautiful town but it largely escaped any damage and is not typical of the region. Other towns along the coast and also inland - particularly Saint-Lô, the county town of Manche and south - they were damaged by bombing, fighting and fire and were quickly and unimaginatively rebuilt in the 50s to provide housing for the local population.
There are many distinctly ugly, characterless towns... but then, a few miles to the side and there are beautiful half-timbered, elegant buildings, old bridges, lovely churches with original stained glass windows. But a lot is grey and not at all elegant. Even Caen centre has some beautiful old buildings but much of it is concrete ugliness - especially on the outskirts where council housing, graffiti and crime rules.
Go east along the coast from Ouistreham and there are lots of gothic-y houses which have do have an elegance and interest, though. Planners here are a lot less obsessed with putting back what has gone before and there are some interesting buildings. Also, small-town France is generally cleaner (less litter) and has less vandalism than comparable areas in the UK.
Just generally, a few random places ive visited in north france.
Honfleur, st malo, quimper, concarneau, dinan, pont aven ( and i know st malo was largely rebuilt after the war)
Of course there are functional parts, but just talking generally, i find france more elegant than the uk.
Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.
Yep and it seems that we have not learned from the past, you only have to look at how we followed the U.S to invade other countries and look at what Russia is doing now.
Also look at the EU, we fought a war to be free and yet we now part of a club where the Germans more or less control.
Gemma - Williams has IIRC resigned his commission and returned to civilian life...but the Prince of Wales is still honorary colonel of a number of units - just as the Queen, the Duke of Edinburg and the Princess Royal are. William will be in time too.
Hi flowerpowa - he would have arrived in France just into the start of August IIRC. Do you happen to know what unit in 3rd Army he was in?
Fitting tune and a fitting 'send off' for two brave 'enemies' from the past. Incidentally did anyone notice that Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler both passed away during 2008 just eight months apart from each other?
Fitting tune and a fitting 'send off' for two brave 'enemies' from the past. Incidentally did anyone notice that Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler both passed away during 2008 just eight months apart from each other?
I have a feeling they are together again.
Metal bands have been doings songs about war for as long as there's been metal bands, so I don't think it's at all inappropriate. Just not your taste
They showed footage of the Nazi concentration camps on a big screen at the main event today. Merkel was there but I doubt if any old German soldiers were there. It was a celebration of beating the crap out of them after all.
Metal bands have been doings songs about war for as long as there's been metal bands, so I don't think it's at all inappropriate. Just not your taste
Actually i have quite a lot of Heavy Rock albums, but musically eclectic as it was through Rock i first got 'into' Classical so you can imagine my collection is pretty diverse.
I have a keen fondness for Military music and Brass bands and Ron Goodwin wrote many brilliant film scores. "Aces High" is most commonly done using Brass but i once heard it played at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo by a Pipe band.....and it was amazing!
They showed footage of the Nazi concentration camps on a big screen at the main event today. Merkel was there but I doubt if any old German soldiers were there. It was a celebration of beating the crap out of them after all.
Unlike wartime memorials in the UK it's not so easy for modern day Germany to deal with actually (bib).
Do they preserve these sites for people like myself who are extremely interested in wandering around them, or do they raze them to the ground and wipe them from history?
Well of course thankfully they have kept them, but the neo-Nazi of which there are a sizeable number would sooner they were razed to the ground as in their eyes the Holocaust 'never happened' and these Camps are simply 'made up fiction'. Security therefore is necessary but some neo-Nazi's did manage to set fire to one of the rebuilt huts at Dachau Concentration Camp, the first Camp established in Germany so of great historic significance. It was saved, but Dachau Memorial decided to leave it to let people see what they still have to deal with to this day.
The large Jewish Holocaust memorial in Berlin city centre is another example which is policed around the clock by plain clothes Police officers.
Visiting a Concentration Camp is compulsory education for every German school child. They must visit one Camp during their education years.
Comments
Well said, but there are those who just love to spoil threads sad really they have nothing better to do
Interested enough to tell us you are not interested though.
Did you see that French towns and villages have an elegance that few places in the UK can match.
Where i grew up as a child, our neighbours daughter courted and eventually married a German Jewish guy who had fled Germany. He drove a Mercedes Benz which of course back in the 50's was very posh! Also by then my fascination with cars had started so each time i saw this Mercedes outside i used to wander around having a look, but also hang around for another reason too. He'd always bring some sweets for me and let me sit in his car!
My Mum often used to say War brought a lot of people closer together. Everyone was 'in the same boat'.
The extraordinary stories of humanity have always fascinated me as it really brings home the whole craziness of war/s, but more than anything, the ability of those able to rise above and beyond it. People of decent moral code toward others, some of whom put their own lives at risk in doing so.
There are many distinctly ugly, characterless towns... but then, a few miles to the side and there are beautiful half-timbered, elegant buildings, old bridges, lovely churches with original stained glass windows. But a lot is grey and not at all elegant. Even Caen centre has some beautiful old buildings but much of it is concrete ugliness - especially on the outskirts where council housing, graffiti and crime rules.
Go east along the coast from Ouistreham and there are lots of gothic-y houses which have do have an elegance and interest, though. Planners here are a lot less obsessed with putting back what has gone before and there are some interesting buildings. Also, small-town France is generally cleaner (less litter) and has less vandalism than comparable areas in the UK.
What a lovely post.
Well said.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/d-day-veterans-great-escape-care-home-145250723.html
A veteran who went AWOL from his care home after being told he couldn't travel to Normandy. What a guy - this story made me smile
Well said, some on here think they are great by posting daft stupid posts >:(
Just generally, a few random places ive visited in north france.
Honfleur, st malo, quimper, concarneau, dinan, pont aven ( and i know st malo was largely rebuilt after the war)
Of course there are functional parts, but just talking generally, i find france more elegant than the uk.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/racing/article-2628512/The-Queen-plans-helicopter-dash-France-watch-Derby-Day-Epsom.html
Why does the crown prince of ruritania, sorry, the prince of wales dress up in uniforms at every opportunity? I noticed Prince william didnt bother.
Yep and it seems that we have not learned from the past, you only have to look at how we followed the U.S to invade other countries and look at what Russia is doing now.
Also look at the EU, we fought a war to be free and yet we now part of a club where the Germans more or less control.
Hi flowerpowa - he would have arrived in France just into the start of August IIRC. Do you happen to know what unit in 3rd Army he was in?
There's a song about it now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d4Z0FtRI7A
This is more fitting and appropriate.
Fitting tune and a fitting 'send off' for two brave 'enemies' from the past. Incidentally did anyone notice that Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler both passed away during 2008 just eight months apart from each other?
I have a feeling they are together again.
Metal bands have been doings songs about war for as long as there's been metal bands, so I don't think it's at all inappropriate. Just not your taste
At such a high profile event Prince Charles will be expected to, William will not and has chosen not to.
I have a keen fondness for Military music and Brass bands and Ron Goodwin wrote many brilliant film scores. "Aces High" is most commonly done using Brass but i once heard it played at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo by a Pipe band.....and it was amazing!
Do they preserve these sites for people like myself who are extremely interested in wandering around them, or do they raze them to the ground and wipe them from history?
Well of course thankfully they have kept them, but the neo-Nazi of which there are a sizeable number would sooner they were razed to the ground as in their eyes the Holocaust 'never happened' and these Camps are simply 'made up fiction'. Security therefore is necessary but some neo-Nazi's did manage to set fire to one of the rebuilt huts at Dachau Concentration Camp, the first Camp established in Germany so of great historic significance. It was saved, but Dachau Memorial decided to leave it to let people see what they still have to deal with to this day.
The large Jewish Holocaust memorial in Berlin city centre is another example which is policed around the clock by plain clothes Police officers.
Visiting a Concentration Camp is compulsory education for every German school child. They must visit one Camp during their education years.