70 years ago today

[se7enthdevil]

as a mere 31 years old i can not begin to understand what it must have been like during those times but my dad who was born during the war used to tell me about what he remembered from his childhood.

 

to all the men and women children all over the world i say thank you. i will never forget about what i've been watching not just today but over the last 20 years that they've put on all those documentaries, i've learned alot and will do my best to remind the younger generations that we (and they) have so much to be thankful for.

 

 

me and my brother will go there one day to pay our respects properly.

[Hotrod81]

Words cannot describe how brave the men and woman that took part were. They must never be forgotten.

[richy_B]

My wife is half French and her family obviously have a lot of stories of WW2. On a particular holiday 2 years ago I visited Omaha beach and sat up on the hills looking across the beach. I remember thinking just how far it was from the water (one of the widest beaches I've seen) and could not imagine what must have been going through the minds of the the poor souls who had to run through barb wire and minefields towards the machine guns on the hills.

 

'When you go home tell them of us and say: for your tomorrow we gave our today'

[Graham]

Not really closely connected to D-Day but a few stories. My dad was born in 1906 so at the start missed out due to age and being a farm bailiff...he was ARP warden...Dads' Army stuff:-) My dads' uncle was a sniper in the Great War who survived the war but ended his days in a padded cell. Sniping on the front line sent many a man mad.

 

My Mom was drafted into tank production in the English Electric factory. One day the factory took a hit from a lone bomber with incendiaries and machine gun fire. The bomber was returning from a raid on Manchester. Her brother (my Uncle Percy) was stationed on the south coast on Anti-aircraft duty and as dawn broke they managed to shoot down the very same bomber that an hour or so earlier had bombed the factory. That's the story he told me anyway and I like to think it's true.

 

I worked with a few guys who had done their duty. One day I was sat with having snap with an old contractor and the conversation got around to the war. He started to tell me about his part as a Spitfire pilot. He broke down in tears but the gist of was that his closest friend who he was flying with in the Battle of Britain was hit by enemy fire. He bailed out and whilst he was parachuting down was shot with machine gun from the plane that had downed his aircraft. Tommy (the contractor) witnessed this, lost his temper and used the whole of his ammo ration on that enemy aircraft. He was court martialled for it and spent time in gaol but he said he never forgot the looks on faces. He showed me the horrendous scars up his back he took from bullets and shrapnel.

 

Another chap I worked with occasionally was involved in the D-Day landings. They were making their way through France and the job was to make sure villages were cleared. He and colleagues went into a french farmhouse and made their way upstairs. They surprised a man in bed with a woman. He said they looked at each other and then the man reached out for something. He shot him dead. Turned out he was a Nazi officer but was reaching for a cigarette case.

[Graham]

As an aside from my other post I remember a German Luger pistol kept in the cubby hole by the fireplace in my uncles house. A war momento. We used to take it out and look at it. My uncle and his brother used it as their hare hunting weapon! They never hit one but used to send up clouds of dust from the drillings:001_smile: That pistol is buried still in my Gran's old cottage garden. One day someone will dig it up and wonder where it came from.

[ArthurBottlesworth]

Guy on my dads squadron was shot own over france and landed on french main road

His mate landed and they came back two up in a spitfire

My dad dldn't believe you could get two in a spitfire cockpit but they did .....

 

My dad wasn't spitfire pilot but ground crew

[humpo48]

Highly recommend going to the war graves in France, it's something that will stay with you for ever. Words cannot describe it.

[MattyF]

Highly recommend going to the war graves in France, it's something that will stay with you for ever. Words cannot describe it.

 

 

It's very sobering indeed , total respect to the veterans and people who gave there lives.

 

 

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[Agi-Smash]

As a fairly young man, growing up in a fairly quiet world, i have absolutely no idea of the fear, courage and loss faced by the families and comrades of the time. Unfortunatly not many of the veterans left and those that are dont talk about it much. I have nothing but respect and admiration for all service men and women of the past, the present, and unfortunatly the future.

Lest we forget.

As a very proud Englishman i am proud to fly the flag. However i think we should all bear in mind, there is always two sides to a war.

[felixthelogchopper]

My Dad was too young to serve and was evacuated from East London to Salcombe where he was during the D Day build up. The American troops were very popular with the kids and so Dad and his friends were frequent visitors to the Army camps. He turned up one morning and they had all upped sticks for France.