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D-Day
- Thread starter Cougar377
- Start date
indeed
https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifes...es-of-irishmen-who-fought-in-wwii-350818.html
About 70,000 southern Irish served in and about 50,000 from N.I.
About 70,000 southern Irish served in and about 50,000 from N.I.
Apparently more French civilians killed during invasion than troops??? according to radio report today
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&sou...aw0UJ_AzsfJQvk1DREZ-rEDH&ust=1559895119027513
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&sou...aw0UJ_AzsfJQvk1DREZ-rEDH&ust=1559895119027513
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In her speech yesterday, Lizzie called those who fought and who died for freedom "The Resilient Generation".... and rightly so.
Such a shame that the current self obsessed Snowflake Generation treats that hard won freedom with such casual indifference.
Peace and freedom come at a price and so many paid the ultimate sacrifice to achieve it. The very least we can do is show due respect for that gift.
Such a shame that the current self obsessed Snowflake Generation treats that hard won freedom with such casual indifference.
Peace and freedom come at a price and so many paid the ultimate sacrifice to achieve it. The very least we can do is show due respect for that gift.
It's a good point - 'our generation' experienced The Falklands campaign so perhaps we have a better grasp - not on the same scale but the horror was there in spadeloads, despite the media doing the jingoistic 'lets stuff it up the Argies' stuff.
In 1973 I went by coach Calais to Paris.
We stopped for a break and I went walk about. I turned a corner to be faced with a war cemetery.
I will never forget it. It was like I had been kicked in the stomach. Headstones vanishing in the distance....
But have we learned??
We stopped for a break and I went walk about. I turned a corner to be faced with a war cemetery.
I will never forget it. It was like I had been kicked in the stomach. Headstones vanishing in the distance....
But have we learned??
I can safely say that the Falklands landings was a far less bloody affair than the beach landings at Normandy.
We never faced an opposed landing like they did and I can't even begin to imagine what that would have been like. Tossed around in a landing craft for what would seem like an eternity, hearing and then feeling the gun fire from the beach defences. The sensation that it felt like every weapon is firing at you. Down goes the ramp and then the carnage. It's impossible to imagine the guts that it took to advance under fire up the beaches and cliffs. Everything must have screamed "don't head that way", yet despite what they saw around them, forward they went. The phrase "into the jaws of death" couldn't be more apt.
That is why I said 'not on the same scale'. I am sure anyone of age remembers the horror of The Sheffield amongst other things.
Total respect for the DDay combatants.
Casual indolence fits as well Cougar..
As for freedom .... Over the past 10 years or so that has been eroded to the point that the UK has been mentioned on another countries news as: 'The UK Police State' and to be honest I do not think they were far wrong..
Often here the term nanny state, but often what is being referred to works equally well being described as police state .. think about it
I know what you mean. Sometimes it seems like they fought and died only to replace one form of Nazi regime for another.
Then we're reminded of what the real Nazis were like (see Squags post on the village of Oradour) and it puts it into some sort of perspective.
None the less.... we could do with the spirit of that generation now.
What is just as sad is how such terrible events are still very much remembered by many German people, leaving scars of memory even younger generations cannot leave behind
I will never forget to the day I die a young German couple, here for the Bash on their bikes, sitting in my living room crying openly one night..
I asked what was wrong...
The people are so warm and welcoming. How can you possibly forgive what happened ?
I replied that in many cases we have not forgiven, will never forget, but have moved to another point in history, hopefully without people like the fanatics who wore the SS badges.
That was about 16 - 17 years ago
And once again I look at news items and realise the world is gripped my fanatical, dangerous people..
This time hiding behind a facade of normality and claiming they do what they do in the name of Allah
I doubt the human race will ever be free of such people, and is the reason I have, as the years have gone by, become an atheist
If there was / is a god such people as Adolf Diekmann would surely never exist
Never forget..................................
We were touring Europe some years ago and were in Dresden the night the river flooded, it also caused chaos in Prague among other places. At our hotel the bikes were safe on a high level car park, but as the flood rose street by street the basement flooded and shortly after all the power went out. Outside the streets were full of mainly youngsters filling sandbags and attempting to stem the flow of water, fruitlessly to be honest. So, being young (hah, I wish) we all trooped outside to see what help we could be. It was t shirt, shorts and bare foot order as we were walking in several inches of water by now. Actually it wasn’t just water, yuck! Sewers don’t take lightly to being filled with water as well.
We worked on as best we could helping the patients from a nearby hospital that could safely be moved into spare rooms in our hotel. The reality was we weren’t able to do very much trying to stem the tide of the flood, but it was gratifying knowing we were doing something.
Later, probably around 2.30/3.00am we were invited to share a large crate of beer being handed around, and then the local TV sent a crew in to interview der Englischer Motorradfahren who were helping to save Dresden! They recognised the irony and were joking about it.
We worked on as best we could helping the patients from a nearby hospital that could safely be moved into spare rooms in our hotel. The reality was we weren’t able to do very much trying to stem the tide of the flood, but it was gratifying knowing we were doing something.
Later, probably around 2.30/3.00am we were invited to share a large crate of beer being handed around, and then the local TV sent a crew in to interview der Englischer Motorradfahren who were helping to save Dresden! They recognised the irony and were joking about it.
I wonder if the Germans will ever truly get over the guilt of WWII. I really hope they do. I was genuinely pleased to see Angela Merkel at the commemorations.
One common theme that you hear time and time again is the lack of malice that most British servicemen had then and have now for the German troops that they fought against (with the exception of the SS).
Nations go to war but human beings actually do the fighting. Acts of basic human decency and kindness on the battlefield will almost always happen between enemies....because they don't willingly choose to enter the horror of battle, they do it because of a sense of duty. When the fighting stops you are left with ordinary people that you can relate to as being no different to yourself, many now lying helpless, injured and frightened. You would have to be a particular kind of hard hearted bastard to not feel some empathy.
When wars end friendships between former enemies are common and their example should set the tone for the rest of us.
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I think they will, they’ll have to. I k ow they’re making certain that it is being taught to the youngsters. When I was going round Auschwitz some years ago there were several groups of German schoolchildren being shown around to ensure that there could be no dismissal of the holocaust.
I was also able to see firsthand anti-German attitudes at Oradour Sur Glane when I was trying to help a young German couple obtain fuel on a Sunday. As I was able to talk to a French guy and the German translating for each of them, the Frenchie refused point blank to assist the Boche! It was over 60 years ago for Pete’s sake! And the German couple were barely 25, it wasn’t their fault, just the D on the plates.
Then There was the East German guy I met in Austria 20 years ago, talking to him he was so pleased to be taking a holiday for the first time in his life, I’d guess he was about 80, he was very sorry not to be able to speak much English to us - because when he was a little boy he was forced to learn Russian! When the wall came down he started to live for the first time in his life.
When we were leaving the Pension the next morning he turned out to wave us away, oh by the way he knew, he KNEW, that his elders were fighting an unjust war but they were not able to do sod all about it.
I was also able to see firsthand anti-German attitudes at Oradour Sur Glane when I was trying to help a young German couple obtain fuel on a Sunday. As I was able to talk to a French guy and the German translating for each of them, the Frenchie refused point blank to assist the Boche! It was over 60 years ago for Pete’s sake! And the German couple were barely 25, it wasn’t their fault, just the D on the plates.
Then There was the East German guy I met in Austria 20 years ago, talking to him he was so pleased to be taking a holiday for the first time in his life, I’d guess he was about 80, he was very sorry not to be able to speak much English to us - because when he was a little boy he was forced to learn Russian! When the wall came down he started to live for the first time in his life.
When we were leaving the Pension the next morning he turned out to wave us away, oh by the way he knew, he KNEW, that his elders were fighting an unjust war but they were not able to do sod all about it.
As I mentioned previously I was struck by how little there was in Cologne to show the dreadful events and suffering that happened there during WW2....however, during my ramblings I came actoss two very moving monuments remembering The Holocaust.
The German people are the same as us - we must never forget. We just don't have the baggage to carry.
Let's not kid ourselves, ethnic cleansing has occurred at least twice since WW2 and can never, ever be tolerated.
The German people are the same as us - we must never forget. We just don't have the baggage to carry.
Let's not kid ourselves, ethnic cleansing has occurred at least twice since WW2 and can never, ever be tolerated.