Remembrance Day

[Mr Moofo]

My grandfather fought at the Somme and was invalided out - and regularly received white feathers from the community he lived in ...
My Uncle was a bomb aimer in a Lancaster - killed on 2 August 1942. 38 planes went out on a mission to test radar etc over Essen. 37 planes came back
He's in the North Sea somewhere ....
He was 26 - and a volunteer
The pilot was 21! - as were most of the rest of the crew

[Phoenix]

My Uncle George was awarded the D.C.M. for leading a convoy of medical trucks and injured soldiers in El Alamein.

He was a lovely man. Very quiet and always smiling and never talked about the war. He was always there whenever there was a family emergency. He was ever so kind he even organised my mum’s funeral for me and my brother. I’ll always remember him because each Christmas he brought my mum and her two fatherless sons a ginormous food and toy hamper.

R.I.P. Brave Uncle George. You’ll never be forgotten.

[JackyJoll]

My dad’s dad joined up in 1914, aged 16, as a drummer boy. When he got to France, probably in early 1915, he took the drum badges off his sleeves and got himself into the front line with the 5th Seaforths. He survived the war, which was more or less impossible, statistically.

[irie]

My Dad's Dad was invalided out of the army either in France or in Gallipoli. He never talked much about it and I found it impossible to find out more because WW1 records were destroyed by a fire caused by a Luftwaffe raid in 1940 in Arnside Street.

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/the-194 ... de-street/

[Mr. Dazzle]

My Dad's, Dad's Dad and his brother died in WW1. Neither of them had to go, they both worked on the railways and they were in reserved occupations. They're both listed on the memorial in Waterloo station. I'm not sure how my great grandmother felt about it, my Dad did mention it once but I've forgotten what he said. My Grandfather would have been 4 at the time, so he never really knew his Dad.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I think I must be fairly unique in that both my Grandfathers did mundane stuff during WW2, one in the RAF, one in the Army.

[Mr. Dazzle]

One of mine was too young, the other was too old. The older one worked the tugs in Portsmouth harbour his whole life, so was certainly involved but not on active combat. He was at D-Day +6 helping build the Mulberry Harbours, which is close as he got to the front line AFAI.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Mum's Dad was in Burma as traffic police, my Grandparents got married and then didn't see each other for five years, Dad's Dad was part of Bomber Command in the UK on the ground, got sent to Germany after the war and felt sorry for the German civilians who'd lost everything.

[Supermofo]

My Grandad Charlie was in the Navy 1936-48. Spent most of the war in the Mediterranean first in MTBs as part of coastal forces out of Alex and then in a WW1 minesweeper, so fastest thing in the Navy to the slowest! The minesweeper sounded like hell, coal powered so shovelling coal next to a furnace in the hold of a ship just off Africa Apparently coaling ship involved everyone bar the captain. Also moving from 1500bhp V12 marine engines to coal must have been poop. Finished up the war in a submarine depot ship in Scotland.

July 36 - Nov 37 HMS Orion - Cruiser

Nov 37 - July 40 HMS Shoreham - Sloop based in India

Dec 40 - Aug 41 HMS Legion - Destroyer. Good job he left that as it was sunk shortly after

Sep 41 - Sep 42 was with coastal forces initially out of HMS Attack and Hornet (Portland/Gosport) before going to Alexandria to join the 10th MTB flotilla out of HMS Mosquito

Sep 42 -Jan 44 HMS Harrow- minesweeper off Africa and then up Italy

Aug 44-Dec 46 HMS Cyclops- Sub depot ship.

From what I've heard he loved the Navy, was part of the Chatham field gun team as well. He also from the sounds of it quite enjoyed the war, leading a 'live everyday like its the last' attitude.

Died when I was 3 but was a character by accounts and he definitely left an impression on me, my son has his name.




He obviously survived but often think of the people he knew that didn't make it on Remembrance Day

[Taff]

My Grandad Charlie was in the Navy 1936-48. Spent most of the war in the Mediterranean first in MTBs as part of coastal forces out of Alex and then in a WW1 minesweeper, so fastest thing in the Navy to the slowest! The minesweeper sounded like hell, coal powered so shovelling coal next to a furnace in the hold of a ship just off Africa Apparently coaling ship involved everyone bar the captain. Also moving from 1500bhp V12 marine engines to coal must have been poop. Finished up the war in a submarine depot ship in Scotland.

July 36 - Nov 37 HMS Orion - Cruiser

Nov 37 - July 40 HMS Shoreham - Sloop based in India

Dec 40 - Aug 41 HMS Legion - Destroyer. Good job he left that as it was sunk shortly after

Sep 41 - Sep 42 was with coastal forces initially out of HMS Attack and Hornet (Portland/Gosport) before going to Alexandria to join the 10th MTB flotilla out of HMS Mosquito

Sep 42 -Jan 44 HMS Harrow- minesweeper off Africa and then up Italy

Aug 44-Dec 46 HMS Cyclops- Sub depot ship.

From what I've heard he loved the Navy, was part of the Chatham field gun team as well. He also from the sounds of it quite enjoyed the war, leading a 'live everyday like its the last' attitude.

Died when I was 3 but was a character by accounts and he definitely left an impression on me, my son has his name.




He obviously survived but often think of the people he knew that didn't make it on Remembrance Day

Cracking photo and it's great that you've got the history.
His badges show he's a Marine Engineer, still known as 'Stokers' today.
1 good conduct badge on the left arm shoes that photo was most likely taken between 4 & 8 years of service.

[Supermofo]

Cracking photo and it's great that you've got the history.
His badges show he's a Marine Engineer, still known as 'Stokers' today.
1 good conduct badge on the left arm shoes that photo was most likely taken between 4 & 8 years of service.

Yeah I've been researching his service, pity I never got to ask him loads of stuff like which MTB he was on (I think it was 268 a US built Elco PT boat pretty much the same as JFK commanded) and whilst he told dad a few things it was all general stuff not specifics. He ended up a SPO but got busted a few times on the way up mainly due to fighting. Luckily I've got all his war photos so got some pics of the MTBs, some ships and some crew photo's. The one I attached is my fav though

[Noggin]

I do Remembrance on November 11th, usually alone and without the churches getting involved.

I do the same, in the UK I used to go to the memorial and leave a poppy with the others, but late in the day when everything was quiet and I could think and remember in peace. The French have a day of remembrance (it's a national day off work to enable everyone to go to the memorials and ceremonies) on the 11th, whichever day that happens to be. I didn't see anything advertised anywhere on Sunday.


Sadly, for me, this year the other people in my french class had arranged to have a class on the 11th instead of delaying it until the week after we 'should' have finished the course. I get why but I had planned to go to the ceremony in the village in the valley

Instead, I did what I always do anyway, and left a poppy on the memorial in resort that is just near my place. Ok, it's not a proper WW2 memorial, it's the memorial of the RAF munitions drop and a memorial to some of the resistance that lost their lives. But it's the closest thing to a memorial that I have in my 'village'. And I think that my BDad, Grandpop and various others I remember would appreciate the memorial for what it is and how I use it to remember

Next year I plan to find/buy/make a cornflower to go with the poppy to connect the French and English remembrance.

[Docca]

BDEDC09F-0854-41DB-AE64-5272B6304BCD.jpeg (616.49 KiB) Viewed 610 times

Three of my great uncles died in WW2, some relatives in WW1 and my father was in the Falklands conflict and did 3 tours of NI (which he always said was worse than the Falklands).

He also hated the sensationalist, chest beating circus and faux-patriasm remembrance had descended into ( and its even more X-factor now than when he was alive). He too remembered it quietly, with us, on the 11th. I still light a candle.

I found the attached article interesting.

[Asian Boss]

The editing in the OP link was very crisp.

[Asian Boss]

The editing in the OP link was very crisp.

Yes it's cleverly thought out and well presented low grade philosophy, presented in a snappy package.
It's the sort of stuff that appeals to the disenfranchised and gets the slow thinking people mobilised before they've had a chance to realise they're holding placards for something they don't understand.

It's the sort of stuff that someone like Dominic Cummings is good at, as long as you're not clever enough to see him pulling levers behind the curtain.

It appears to have riled you.

[slowsider]

Levelling up will bring a bright capitalist future where we all wear waterproof watches even if we only sit in the bath. It said so on the side of a bus.