Discussion
Jasandjules said:
Rightly or wrongly (wrongly of course) I suspect these things are no longer raised unless it is a special anniversary, 100 years etc..
Your probably right of course, but I am sure there are some old Soldiers still with us thinking of their comrades today, oh well. At least we still have rememberence Sunday.
bxlbaz said:
Oddly enough, every evening this week on TV there is a movie about this period of time. Last night was Patton, tonight it’s The Longest Day, tomorrow it’s A Bridge Too Far. Looks like the Belgians remember it more than the U.K.
I have that DVD set too 
I did mention it at work earlier and got blank looks
I know a chap called Vincent Sweeney who is the Lighthouse Keeper at Blacksod in Co. Mayo, Ireland. A quiet, modest man who is a superb seaman and a joy to spend time with.
His Father, Ted Sweeney, was also the Lighthouse Keeper at Blacksod but this was during the second World War. Ted was asked to provide weather observations on an hourly basis and he forecast a storm approaching from the Atlantic. Based upon his readings, D Day was postponed from the 5th of June to the 6th and a potential disaster was avoided. There is now a simple plaque on the Lighthouse to commemorate the event.
Link to a previous article https://amp.independent.ie/irish-news/how-blacksod...
His Father, Ted Sweeney, was also the Lighthouse Keeper at Blacksod but this was during the second World War. Ted was asked to provide weather observations on an hourly basis and he forecast a storm approaching from the Atlantic. Based upon his readings, D Day was postponed from the 5th of June to the 6th and a potential disaster was avoided. There is now a simple plaque on the Lighthouse to commemorate the event.
Link to a previous article https://amp.independent.ie/irish-news/how-blacksod...
I visit Normandy once a year and pay my respects and say thank you at many different locations. It is something that you cannot imagine the scale of if you were not actually there.
This year I was fortunate enough to meet and chat to a veteran who landed on D+3. He eventually helped liberate Belsen.
Those young men were real heroes.
This year I was fortunate enough to meet and chat to a veteran who landed on D+3. He eventually helped liberate Belsen.
Those young men were real heroes.
RosscoPCole said:
I visit Normandy once a year and pay my respects and say thank you at many different locations. It is something that you cannot imagine the scale of if you were not actually there.
This year I was fortunate enough to meet and chat to a veteran who landed on D+3. He eventually helped liberate Belsen.
Those young men were real heroes.
Good to hear some remember.This year I was fortunate enough to meet and chat to a veteran who landed on D+3. He eventually helped liberate Belsen.
Those young men were real heroes.
"Morning Joe" on MSNBC devoted quite a bit of time to it yesterday morning.
It was also the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy - which they also covered. That got no mention over here at all - except on Sunday when Radio 4 played Alistair Cooke's "Letter from America" which he broadcast in June 1968. He was a witness to the actual event and was still in shock.
It was also the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy - which they also covered. That got no mention over here at all - except on Sunday when Radio 4 played Alistair Cooke's "Letter from America" which he broadcast in June 1968. He was a witness to the actual event and was still in shock.
My grandfather will be 98 next month and is a D Day veteran he used to go up to Glasgow for the veterans reunions and went to Normandy around fifteen years ago.Most of his unit are dead now and he is poorly himself a far cry from his boxing days in the army,he still has a sharp mind though and last year finally received his legion d'honneur from the French.
I visit him as often as is possible as he still lives at home and refuses to go in a home we have some good laughs and it is a privilege to have him around,I ask him what he thinks of the UK today and he just smiles and says 'too many do gooders' .
As has been said these men were/are real heroes.
I visit him as often as is possible as he still lives at home and refuses to go in a home we have some good laughs and it is a privilege to have him around,I ask him what he thinks of the UK today and he just smiles and says 'too many do gooders' .
As has been said these men were/are real heroes.
ringsound said:
Let it be an alert for all mankind we should not repreat our same mistake.
And yet so many seem hell-bound on retaining those historic enmities, forgetting that it was the political philosophies which were the problem, not the geographical boundaries.Anyway, it's not a roundieth of D-Day, but we are in the middle of the centenary of the end of WW1. If everything was commemorated every year, then we'd never stop.
RosscoPCole said:
I visit Normandy once a year and pay my respects and say thank you at many different locations. It is something that you cannot imagine the scale of if you were not actually there.
This year I was fortunate enough to meet and chat to a veteran who landed on D+3. He eventually helped liberate Belsen.
Those young men were real heroes.
My Dad also landed about +3, and was also at Belsen, just after it was liberated I believe. I never knew about him being at Belsen until the vicar mentioned it at his funeral. He was a signaller.This year I was fortunate enough to meet and chat to a veteran who landed on D+3. He eventually helped liberate Belsen.
Those young men were real heroes.
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