6th June 1944

[Orgoner]

My immediate family were all either too old or too young for WW2 (they tended to be nurses and firefighters at home), but my paternal grandfather (born in 1898) went to France for the tricky first leg where he was an ostler, looking after horses near the front line.

He never spoke much about it (although I have some pretty scary notebooks he wrote during his training at Rippon - think chlorine gas and hand to hand combat with bayonets) and he was shot under his armpit and the poor lad behind him (of a very similar age) didn’t survive.

I went on a school trip to Normandy when I was about eleven and we visited a few of the beaches. One of the few times even I knew not to play the fool.

We owe so much to those poor souls and that generation in general.

[Monaco_Totty]

D-Day June 6, 1944.

Obviously i live near the beach landing zones & as such i've often wandered around those beaches over the years - quite an emotional experience.

In a museum of that area one particular object in it always comes into my mind on this day.

It was a simple pencil message inside an old scruffy diary from that long day with the words.

"They may break our bodies but they need not dominate our minds"

So yeah, food for thought for my generation.

[WTF11]

My immediate family were all either too old or too young for WW2 (they tended to be nurses and firefighters at home), but my paternal grandfather (born in 1898) went to France for the tricky first leg where he was an ostler, looking after horses near the front line.

He never spoke much about it (although I have some pretty scary notebooks he wrote during his training at Rippon - think chlorine gas and hand to hand combat with bayonets) and he was shot under his armpit and the poor lad behind him (of a very similar age) didn’t survive.

I went on a school trip to Normandy when I was about eleven and we visited a few of the beaches. One of the few times even I knew not to play the fool.

We owe so much to those poor souls and that generation in general.

Visited the beaches with Maureen on the bike (St Mere Eglise (complete with paratrooper still hooked up by his parachute in the village square, near the 101st Airborne museum), Point D'Hoc and the war graves cemetery overlooking Omaha (the one featured in the film, Saving Private Ryan). Couldn't walk into the graveyard itself, seemed somehow sacriligious, somewhere I didn't deserve to be.

None of us do, none of us today have been required to do what those young men and women did, and I suspect that were the same demands placed on todays young generation, for all we, the "older" generation would wish it to be otherwise, surrender and appeasement would be the order of the day, because it would be "easier".

[spaldy]

I think a common trait amongst many veterans is they don’t talk about it to thier kids or immediate family

My kids. used to talk to my dad. He would tell them things I had no idea about. Could not believe it. I was a History buff and really studied WWII. My dad would talk to me on details but never about him.

My kids were talking to him and he mentioned he was in France somewhere in a pretty intense battle. I had no idea. When he died I was going through his stuff and was stunned to realize he was in the battle of the bulge. He had a box of medals that i found. Not sure I cried that hard in a long, long time.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

They all seem to have great humility about what they did as if it was something anyone would do and wasn’t much in particular. Amazing.

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

PS - Spaldy you must be understandably v proud of your old man.

[Tichi1]

They all seem to have great humility about what they did as if it was something anyone would do and wasn’t much in particular. Amazing.

Spot on, my old fella never talked about it, but he came over from Ireland to join up in 1939 saw action in Malta and Tobruk, and later involved in the Overlord campaign - but not until mid June.

[spaldy]

hop, makes me realize how much I pale in comparison to him and his generation.

[bathlad61]

Agree with all above. We lost our youngest son in Afghanistan, only 24, that dreaded knock on the door will haunt me for ever, yes that was what he loved and wanted to do, but the sacrifice is immeasurable

[alfinyalcabo]

Sorry to hear that Bathlad,must have been awful,I can't imagine how you felt. 😔

My dad was a Royal Marine Commando during the war.. He was seriously wounded during the Dieppe raid and spent 9 months in hospital .Luckily he was wounded whilst still on the landing craft ..Many who landed on the beach were mowed down straight away.. the Dieppe raid was one of the worst losses of lives ,a total disaster.
😒