By this time today 80 years ago hundreds if not thousands of Allied soldiers had already lost their lives on the beaches of Normandy, many of them still in their teens. They left the South coast of England to face hell on earth, an unimaginable terror most of us will never experience. Their mission to liberate France and Europe from Nazi Germany which they did at great cost. Their sacrifice and bravery must never be forgotten. WE WILL REMMEMBER THEM
Attending a memorial on Sunday delivered by the Royal British Legion. We had the D-Day air show last weekend here in Duxford a fantastic event.
My Dad, my Uncles all volunteered and served in WWII. I have huge respect for their courage and endurance. They and their generation made the world a better place.
In bits here watching the coverage on the BBC. All brilliantly done with just the right balance between formality and relaxed, respectful memories of all that these great people went through so long ago. Never again should so many young people have to give their lives in this way. I served in the RAF and will always count myself lucky that I never had to face what these veterans had to. God bless them all
Good point but could I just say that those brave lads were fighting to save our way of life and ultimately our ability to argue the toss and talk utter bollux on here. Sadly, as one veteran I read about yesterday was saying, those events are slowly being forgotten as time marches on.
Shed a few tears at the BBC coverage. The actors who read the words of the veterans as if it was they who had experienced it was exceptional. Some of the veterans in wheelchairs close to 100 years old doing their best to stand up and salute after the Last Post was played. The young French primary school kids handing out white roses to each of the veterans. All set me going again. We owe so much to that generation of young men, some who never returned.We should always remember them and not play politics.
Talking about their generation! I remember going on trips to Scarborough and we’d go out on the Yorkshire Belle so that the bar could open. Uncles and grandparents having a pint and glad it was over. They didn’t talk about it, but there was always a sense of them having shared the experience, even the miners who weren’t allowed to join up. Any individual who makes war should be taken out on humanitarian grounds. My dad told me that as a 17 year old miner he came off the night shift at Darfield Main and the pit yard was full of WVS women dishing out tea and jam sandwiches. They were loaded onto trucks and taken to Sheffield to dig for bodies after the blitz. My grandkids are 17 and haven’t even had a job yet, I can’t imagine them doing what my dad did. He went into the pit at 14 btw. A generation of giants I loved them all.
