GLC Posted 5 June 2009 Posted 5 June 2009 Such a massive day, How can people still deny the holocaust!? R.I.P. to everyone that died
Red Leicester Posted 5 June 2009 Posted 5 June 2009 Such a massive day, How can people still deny the holocaust!? R.I.P. to everyone that died Have you been? If not then go. That's the imperative "Go!" We (me and the good lady) did a tour starting at Normandy all the way up to the Ardennes calling in at the beaches and graveyards - unbelievably powerful.
GLC Posted 5 June 2009 Author Posted 5 June 2009 Have you been?If not then go. That's the imperative "Go!" We (me and the good lady) did a tour starting at Normandy all the way up to the Ardennes calling in at the beaches and graveyards - unbelievably powerful. I wan to go in the future, I also want to go Auschwitz
Edmund Posted 5 June 2009 Posted 5 June 2009 I wan to go in the future, I also want to go Auschwitz Know people who have been, said it was very moving. Also on my to do list. Ive been to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, it was good but they have done a lot of renovation to it over the years mainly to cater for high demand of tourists which makes it lose some surreality.
Red Leicester Posted 5 June 2009 Posted 5 June 2009 I wan to go in the future, I also want to go Auschwitz I went to Dachau - 'wanted to' is probably the wrong term, I felt it 'appropriate' to go. People unmoved by such experiences are not people at all.
GLC Posted 5 June 2009 Author Posted 5 June 2009 I went to Dachau - 'wanted to' is probably the wrong term, I felt it 'appropriate' to go.People unmoved by such experiences are not people at all. I plan to go in a few years, me and some mates feel like we owe it to the people who died,
Red Leicester Posted 5 June 2009 Posted 5 June 2009 I plan to go in a few years, me and some mates feel like we owe it to the people who died, Encapsulating the experience in a word: humbling
Finnegan Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 I have the weirdest emotional triggers. I did the whole Normandy / D-Day tour with school. The battlegrounds, the museums, the mass-graves. Nothing. Like a stone the whole way through. Don't get me wrong I was in no way disrespectful; behind the e-warrior abuse is actually an immensely polite and sensible person, I swear! But no. Not a tear, not a lump in the throat. Not even a sense of feeling small or humble or awed. Just nothing really, it's a bunch of white crosses in a field and some bullets holes in concrete. Stick me infront of the last episode of Blackadder Goes Fourth, however? Blub every time. Complete mess.
GLC Posted 6 June 2009 Author Posted 6 June 2009 I have the weirdest emotional triggers. I did the whole Normandy / D-Day tour with school. The battlegrounds, the museums, the mass-graves. Nothing. Like a stone the whole way through. Don't get me wrong I was in no way disrespectful; behind the e-warrior abuse is actually an immensely polite and sensible person, I swear! But no. Not a tear, not a lump in the throat. Not even a sense of feeling small or humble or awed. Just nothing really, it's a bunch of white crosses in a field and some bullets holes in concrete. Stick me infront of the last episode of Blackadder Goes Fourth, however? Blub every time. Complete mess.
Steven Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 Stick me infront of the last episode of Blackadder Goes Fourth, however? Blub every time. Complete mess. Curiously the best ending to a Comedy ever. I met two blokes who both came from the UK at Sydney airport who were going to the D-Day events and thanked them both for their efforts in 1944.
Basingstoke Fox Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 I went to Ypres in Belgium which had alot of WWI Graves and museums, that was interesting but yet saddening too.
lou Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 Im going to Normandy, hopefully next year. My Mum and Auntie have been and told me about it and it sounds an incredibly emotional journey. They met a local Frenchman from a village nearby who has been to the service they hold every day at a church there, EVERY DAY for the last 60 years. He said he was 6 when he first went and felt it was his duty to remember what they did to liberate them & hes never missed it since.
Thracian Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 Rather coincidentally in the days preceding D-Day I've been reading a brilliant account of the sinking of the troopship SS Leopoldville and what a tragic and largely unnecessary loss of life that was. The whole embarkation at Southampton was something of a mess to begin with and there was great controversy over many factors including the officers' lack of leadership and of the mostly Congolese crew members who reportedly scuttled quickly away on lightly-loaded lifeboats while leaving masses of troops on board to their fate. There were heroes too, many of them and some whose personal efforts saved others at the cost of their own lives. But it made me wonder how many more lives were neeedlessly sacrificed by ordinary men who were obliged to place their safety in the hands of people who singularly failed to justify their status as superior officers. And how lucky were the many soldiers who, for various reasons of error or chance, were assigned to the wrong troopship and who thus survived. Somehow the story made thoughts of D-Day all the more poignant. http://uboat.net/history/leopoldville.htm
The Birch Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 Heard some veterans talking on the radio this morning. Its amazing to think that a lot of these soldiers were only 18 or 19, don't think I could have coped with that situation at that age, true heroes, all of them.
lou Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 Just watching it now - its still heart breaking. Got a treasured picture of my Grandad in his uniform when he was in the Army during the 2nd world war and he was sooooo young - just a child ffs. Its so wrong.
Guest Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 Heard some veterans talking on the radio this morning. Its amazing to think that a lot of these soldiers were only 18 or 19, don't think I could have coped with that situation at that age, true heroes, all of them. My grandad joined the Navy at 16, this would have been in 1938. He said he knew that war was imminent, despite what our government said, and he wanted to the choice of where he served, and not have it imposed upon him. By 1941 he was Chief Petty Officer. He was 19. It was, he said, about as high as he could have gone, due to his background. That is frightening when you think how young he was, and shouldering responsibility. I just can't comprehend it. Just watching it now - its still heart breaking. Got a treasured picture of my Grandad in his uniform when he was in the Army during the 2nd world war and he was sooooo young - just a child ffs. Its so wrong. I know what you mean.
Fosse Boy Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 Heard some veterans talking on the radio this morning. Its amazing to think that a lot of these soldiers were only 18 or 19, don't think I could have coped with that situation at that age, true heroes, all of them. Absolutely. Just normal guys my age making such sacrifices in the name of freedom. We owe them, and must never forget it.
Zingari Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 At a big family get together a few years back , my dad and uncles (and a few aunts who served as land girls) from both sides of the family, agreed almost unanimously that they would have been unwilling to fight for the the Britain they see today . The uncle who was killed at monte cassino , we assumed would have agreed with them
lou Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 Thankfully there are still brave souls (my Sons friend David included) willing to fight for this country. Wasnt it the case that they didnt get a choice back then? I thought it was compulsary when war broke out?
Fosse Boy Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 Thankfully there are still brave souls (my Sons friend David included) willing to fight for this country. Wasnt it the case that they didnt get a choice back then? I thought it was compulsary when war broke out? Yeah, most of them would've been conscripted.
Thracian Posted 6 June 2009 Posted 6 June 2009 At a big family get together a few years back , my dad and uncles (and a few aunts who served as land girls) from both sides of the family, agreed almost unanimously that they would have been unwilling to fight for the the Britain they see today . The uncle who was killed at monte cassino , we assumed would have agreed with them Hard to imagine what my dad would have thought. He was a kind and Christian man who served as a cook at Nijmegen. He would have been a teenager and always made light of his time there - describing how he always found some way to cadge decent food out of the local populace to see that his pals were well fed. But he never once told of his experiences in any detail yet the War left him deeply scarred. He was in his 70's when he died yet never showed any desire to go abroad again. His family in Burton-on-Trent lost several souls but, again, he never mentioned the details.
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