Today I have been mostly…(2)
… watching the D-Day Landing commemoration services.
I have so much respect for the guys who attend the remembrance services. I try to attend my local one each year and am always touched with a hint of sadness in the knowledge that at the next one there will be less of the veterans than there were at the last.
I am always amazed at the dignity of a group of people who, by dint of acts of others, end up on the battlefield paying for deeds of a small group of individuals who are safe in their beds.
When you are used to dealing with the absolute dregs of society, it is refreshing to know that there were & are people out there who put others far above themeselves. Sometimes you just want to drag people by the scruff of the neck from their Satellite systems & Plasma screens or their dole queues & crack dens & force them to watch Remembreance Services until something, just a smidgeon seeks throughy their greedy, self-obsessed, thick little skulls. But alas, I fear they would be there forever.
I’m sure there were sponging, no-good leaches around during the days of WWII, but I can’t help thinking there are an awful lot more these days.
One of my relatives died recently. He used to attend the Remembrance Day services with his war medals. If I lived to be half the man he was, I’d die a happy man.
MetAnon says:
i’m not sure there was ’sponging, no-good leaches’ around then because there wasnt the same benefits system.Sure there was spivs etc making money on the black market or from crime but at least they got out of bed in the morning…
June 7th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
CJ Nerd says:
On Friday night, ie 5th June, I did a double-take when someone on BBC News said something like “Gordon Brown faces a difficult and dangerous day tomorrow”.
I thought at the time it was just as well he was going to meet some D-Day veterans in Normandy the next morning. He could explain to them what a difficult and dangerous day he was living through.
June 7th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Joe says:
My Dad served as a copper in the 30’s and 40’s (including during the London blitz), also served in the navy during the war, taking part in the D day landings, and returned to coppering after the war. He ended up with the usual string of medals and 13 Commissioners commendations. I can only be humble in the light of what he and his comrades went through without complaint during those years. A shame the same spirit is not reflected in current times.
June 7th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Hibbo says:
Nothing but admiration and respect for these guys. I don’t think any of us can even begin to imagine what they went through.
It chokes me when I see these old-timers, standing proud with their chests full of medals. True British heroes.
June 7th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Tony F says:
I remember doing a Remembrance Day Ceremony at some small town on the west side of the country. They read every name off the Cenotaph. To be honest, at first it was boring, (I had done quite a few of these ceremonies) I then realised, that in this small town, that ALL the ‘eligible’ men (and not a few boys) had gone to fight in the Great War and died in the trenches. Many were names only now. No offspring, they either didn’t have any, or they died alongside their Fathers/Uncles..
Perhaps there were ’scrotes’ amongst them, but to be honest they did do their bit. With honour.
June 7th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
constableconfused.com says:
Hibbo,
couldn’t agree more!
Could it be done now? Doubt it, everyone would go off with stress after being called up! (Serving regulars excluded of course).
Regards.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Gavin, Brighton says:
On tthe Saturday morning of the weekend of the D-Day 6oth anniversary commemorations I was getting ready to go out and had BBC1 or news channel on. I was quite late going out as a result of stopping to watch a compelling and heartbreaking piece of coverage. Two British veterans were revisiting the Normandy beach they stormed , and had agreed to meet with a German bloke who had been defending the exact same spot. They pointed out where they landed and the route they took and the German guy showed them the location of the machine gun nest he was manning. More than once they all hugged each other like long lost brothers, evidently greatly, maybe completely reconciled with each other. Different class. A thought started for me and just wouldn’t stop repeating “they gave their lives for us, they gave their lives for us..”. Like I said, heartbreaking and utterly compelling. I sobbed.
Different class.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:49 pm