I ticked one off the bucket list last week. I spent 4 days around the D day landings then went over to the somme where my great grandfather had been killed exactly 100 years ago. We had a family get together in the British cemetery at exactly the time he went over the top. That was very emotional but what has stayed in my head is what happened on 6th June 1944. One week later I can't get it out of my head. I'm spending hours on you tube watching video footage. Those guys were very special. Respect.
Respect indeed. Hard to comprehend what they did in many respects. Although I've no close relatives who served in WW2, I did the Pedal to Paris ride for the Royal British Legion last year. Very powerful 4 days and a life changing experience. Given your connection to those that did serve, I can well understand it taking over your mind. Never Forget.
I'm sure that was a fantastic day even though very emotional. My grandad was at the Somme and survived. If he hadn't I wouldnt be here today. Nothing wrong with getting emotional about stuff like that. You wouldn't be human otherwise.
My Great Grandad survived the Somme too, but was wounded by shrapnel 2 inches from his heart & gassed. He lived till 97. Non of my family would have existed if he had moved 2 inches one way in a split second in a trench... Our time on this planet is very tenuous.
I'm no war buff, but I had a week in st aubin sur mer three weeks ago, which is on juno beach where the canadians came in. Amongst normal holiday stuff we visited the omaha and utah beachs and what struck me was how beautiful they were now in contrast to the stark horror they must have seen on that terrible day. The terror those lads must have felt when they jumped out of those landers and ran up those beaches is unimaginable.
My mate is a medal buff , he buys them and I do the research on the soldier with a view to trying to tell their story for posterity . A friend of ours happened to overhear us discussing it , and said you might find my late father in laws interesting . She fetched them to show us and it was an amazing story similar to the fictitious one in only fools and horses . Sgt Allen had been leading an attack in Normandy when he was hit in the chest with a pistol bullet , the bullet had gone through a silver cigarette case which she still had along with the medals , he survived but surgeons considered it too dangerous to remove the bullet , with it was an article in the Sheffield Star from 1974 . Mr Allen had been killed in a car crash at Tinsley ...the pathologist said he had suffered a heart attack , but it was impossible to say whether the crash caused the heart attack or whether the bullet had moved and caused the heart attack which led to the crash .
Did you do the museum in Caen, redsetter? Went there in 1993 and it was a memorable experience. My grandfather was involved on D Day - so obviously echo the sentiments above. Can't help but think though that he didn't go through that for us to end up with the current sentiments of insularity and intolerance.
Believe it or not Orsen I missed the museum at Caen. I stayed there for 2 nights and really wanted to see Pegasus bridge. The trouble was there is so much to take in and when you get to each place you don't want to rush around. I am already planning to go back and see what I missed. Besides it being so emotional it so hard to take in what they achieved against such massive defences. Here's one of the photos I took along side one taken on D day
The tour guides were telling us how they could hear the bullets hitting the front of the landing craft before they opened. They also said that the crew of the landing craft were told not to bring anyone back. If they refused to leave the craft they had to shoot them. Staggering...
Funny you should mention that, while I was at the Somme we visited the Theipval memorial to over 70,000 missing soldiers, never found. Guess who I bumped into
