D-day 80 years

Unfortunately I missed it eddiecat but my father was at D day. He was medical corps attached to the 8th Army in North Africa (Dessert Rats) and then pushed up through Italy. As a doctor he was also one of the first to arrive at Belsen. He never really recovered. He would be 109 years old now. Sadly he died at the age of 63.

I believe there's a concert featuring songs from the 40's. My mother loved Glen Miller and we played Moonlight Serenade at her funeral. She was a driver during the war and drove top brass and the like to various locations around the country. I remember her telling me about visiting Coventry not long after the bombing and her shock at the devastation.

How I wish I'd asked them both more, although my father (like many who returned) was reluctant to talk about it.

flappergirl the programme is on BBC iPlayer if you are able to see that.
I was pleased that some women who had been involved were also on the programme.
Your parents sound like truly remarkable people

My dad was not at D Day, but he was there during the push into Germany a few months later. He was on the front line. He was shot and horribly injured in the Reichswald Forest, but thankfully recovered. He was eighteen years old.

I was rather alarmed recently to catch part of a conversation between two senior ladies at a coffee morning. On the subject of our village commemorations for D-Day one said to the other 'yes, it is so important that we remember the end of the war...........'

My Uncle wasn't at D Day, but in the follow up a few days later. He fought his way into Germany, pushing the enemy back. Luckily no physical injuries, but who knows what else as he never spoke of it. My family lost two other members killed , my father, who was in Bomber Command, and my mother's much loved cousin who perished in North Africa. My stepfather was also a P.O.W in the Far East. My daughter and our three grandchildren are in the Netherlands this week, visiting my father's grave. Grandchildren very keen to keep his memory alive which has pleased me enormously.

eddiecat78

flappergirl the programme is on BBC iPlayer if you are able to see that.
I was pleased that some women who had been involved were also on the programme.
Your parents sound like truly remarkable people

Thank you eddiecat. As I said, I so wish I'd asked more but you don't when you're young do you.

The posters above have also shared such interesting and moving stories. The war had only been over 12 years when I was born. It loomed large in hearts, minds and the bomb sites in the cities. It's hard to believe it was so long ago.

Did anyone see the two ladies, one 104 and the other 103 on the news? They were partially responsible for the success of D-Day. An amazing age to live to! Goodness flappergirl, you're a spring chicken! I was born in 1943, five weeks after my father was killed. I don't remember the war, but certainly remember the aftermath. DH, born 1940, does vaguely remember the war years ! Are we really that ancient!!!

Well I am Jabber. How very sad you not knowing your father, your mother giving birth without her husband, so many paid such a high price for the freedom we have now. I was lucky as my dad came back and he was the best dad you could have, they are just as important as mothers in my book.
Flapper just like you I wished I had asked more but my father never spoke of the war. He used to say better not to know, which told you nothing.
Those two ladies were fantastic, very eloquent and sharp as ever.
I loved the programme and was so pleased at those that had good lives and still going.

My mother married again when I was four Allsorts, to a lovely man who was wonderful to both of us. He had been a P.OW with the Japanese, captured at the fall of Singapore. He never spoke of it, although nothing Japanese ever entered our house for very many years, not till coloured TV! He always ate slowly and meticulously, nothing was ever left on his plate. Looking back there were little things that gave the game away, unnoticeable at the time. Sadly there were no more children, but the day they met was our lucky day. I wish I had asked more of both of them, but even though they were easy going parents somehow the war years for them always seemed a taboo subject and best left.

My friend's dad was there and sadly no longer here. He would be appalled now at what is happening to the country whose values he fought for, and to Europe likewise. History has a terrible habit of repeating itself when we forget and mostly, misunderstand.

These words are not my own but food for thought as we approach the 80th anniversary of D Day

"WHO ARE THESE MEN ?"

Who are these men who march so proud,
Who quietly weep, eyes closed, head bowed?
These are the men who once were boys,
Who missed out on youth and all it's joys.

Who are these men with aged faces,
Who silently count the empty spaces?
These are the men who gave their all,
Who fought for their country for freedom for all.

Who are these men with sorrowful look
Who can still remember the lives that were took?
These are the men who saw young men die,
The price of peace is always high.

Who are these men who in the midst of pain,
Whispered comfort to those they would not see again?
These are the men whose hands held tomorrow,
Who brought back our future with blood tears and sorrow.

Who are these men who promise to keep
Alive in their hearts the ones God holds asleep?
These are the men to whom I promise again:

'Veterans',my friends-
We will remember them.

Remembered with honour and pride.

Very moving coverage by the BBC of the D-Day 80 landings this morning. I was delighted to see King Charles there and thought he looked very well and relaxed. French schoolchildren gave each veteran a single white rose to signify the blossoms that the liberated French people threw on the tanks and trucks when the Allied armies drove through. Out of tissues now.

cnn has d-day anniversary from france-vets that are still here brits canadian france american etc
fil was at battle of bulge was wounded and was found ina stone house frozen to the floor by his blood and the nazis too
he came home tho. i would not have my husband him was born 1947

Oh RosieMaw, thank you so much for posting that very moving poem. It absolutely spells out the whole sombre awful business. It must never happen again.

Thank you RosiesMaw for sharing that poem on this emotional day. Such brave men and women.

We will remember them.