Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Varche on 06 June 2019, 15:09:33
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Plenty of coverage on tv.
Interesting 10 unusual facts about DDay on the BBC website. I knew some. Maybe someone will post the link..
My dad was scheduled for the landings but was sent to Edinburgh for officer training. He passed the physical tests but failed the interview. He was sent to India instead. Probably a lucky escape.
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Yes indeed Varche, I have been watching the BBC coverage of yesterday and today and trying to take in all the veterans accounts of the action. It is bloody marvellous, and I have frequently been in tears over what has been recalled.
I have studied the D-Day landings for years, and remember what my father told me of the day as he was on board HMS Ajax, a light cruiser, as she bombarded the German positions. But over the last 24 hours we have been absolutely blessed by the veterans wonderful first witness, primary evidence, accounts that are so precious and, naturally, are time limited. To read other historians research and accounts of the build up and the day itself is one thing, but to hear the recollections of men, and women, actually there, or elsewhere but involved in the proceedings, is something that is priceless.
I really hope as many of the younger generations have been listening and taking notes, even recording all that is being said. It is their, and our, last chance to hear so many veterans together talking so freely, together, about what they experienced.
God bless them all, and may we never forget. WE salute them!
I am no again dissolving in tears as what they have said about those that fell on the day and after, so often just 17,18 or so years of age , flashes across the brain............ even the likes of a 16 year old boy shot by the Germans for assisting the French resistance,:'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
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Dad had a minor role in those proceedings in as much as he was on a minesweeper helping to keep the sea lanes clear for the safe passage of the invasion fleet.
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My father never forgave the S.S. for what they did to him in the war , passed over for promotion time and time again :y
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I am over in N Normandy now to celebrate and commemorate those who fought for are liberty. Its the least I can do, and feel I should do, even though I wasn't born at the time.
I have to say, its a terrific atmosphere, and the Dakotas dropping the parachutes over Sannervile on Wednesday was an epic site.... ...albeit about 3hrs late ;D
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I am over in N Normandy now to celebrate and commemorate those who fought for are liberty. Its the least I can do, and feel I should do, even though I wasn't born at the time.
I have to say, its a terrific atmosphere, and the Dakotas dropping the parachutes over Sannervile on Wednesday was an epic site.... ...albeit about 3hrs late ;D
I have walked over many Great War battlefields and visited endless cemeteries of those that fell, with my father and youngest brother, but it is to my shame I have never got to those of WW2.
So I am jealous TB, your visit must be a great experience and a chance to learn so much. Seeing that Dakota flight and parachutists will be something you will never forget! :y :y
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Seeing that Dakota flight and parachutists will be something you will never forget! :y :y
Probably not as memorable as the 70th anniversary, when, by sheer luck, I happened to be on a clifftop near Arromanche, when a Lancaster flanked by a pair of Spitfires came along the coast very low and not far out.
That was a sight. And a noise.
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Seeing that Dakota flight and parachutists will be something you will never forget! :y :y
Probably not as memorable as the 70th anniversary, when, by sheer luck, I happened to be on a clifftop near Arromanche, when a Lancaster flanked by a pair of Spitfires came along the coast very low and not far out.
That was a sight. And a noise.
In the South East I am often blessed with such sights during the summer months, and if not the full Battle of Britain flight, we have Spitfires, Hurricanes and even a Mustang coming across especially at weekends. Indeed I am often blessed by the sound of Merlin engines and last week end there was more than most in the sky. The proximity of Biggin Hill and some private airfields, with those fighter aircraft based there, is the main reason for this, as much as the summer air displays in our neck of the woods.
Strangely, although I was born post-war, it reminds me of my childhood in Tunbridge Wells in the 1950's when Spitfires in particular were still a regular sight and sound, with my father often describing what it had been like during 1940 in Kent with formations of Luftwaffe bombers coming over and being met by the fighters, as they flew over.
Yes, it is always a brilliant sound and sight!! 8) 8) :y :y
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I have to share this story...
A number of years ago I was going through Birmingham at the same time as the Armistice (I suspect therefore Classic Motor Show) and I saw a medalled chap stood collecting for the Poppy Appeal. I walked over and had a nice long chat with him, checked he was ok for a cuppa, etc. I seem to recall he was landed on "D-Day +6" (6 days after) Someone walked by dressed up in one of those enormous foam suits of a cartoon character or whatever, the type you see on the London Marathon. I mentioned "phew, I bet he's warm in that thing" The well-spoken kindly War Veteran then said "No, no. That's a woman."
"Oh", said I. "erm-"
"Yes. You can tell by the ar5e!.. you'll learn, boy! You'll learn!"
:D ;D
I love that story and will remember it forever. It reminds me that old people are just young people who have been around a very long time. A lovely, and very funny man to talk to.
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My father never forgave the S.S. for what they did to him in the war , passed over for promotion time and time again :y
;D ;D ;D
My Dad, a CSM in the Q.O.R.W.K.'s, escaped at Dunkirk, was commissioned and, presumably as he was born and brought up there, and spoke Hindi and Urdu, was sent to India in '41, luckily he escaped unharmed after a short stint in Burma, and after 4 years, now a Major, was killed while flying to a farewell dinner, 2 weeks before coming home. I have visited his grave, which is in a beautifully kept Commonwealth War cemetery in Karachi.
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I think I posted this in another thread last week, but it seems very apt to post it in this one too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X6WxLbTmok&list=RD9X6WxLbTmok&start_radio=1
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I see that next year May Day bank holiday will be delayed by 4 days from Monday May 4th to Friday May 8th in recognition of the 75th anniversary of VE day.