D-Day - 75 years on

[bb41]

Back blubbing again watching the unveiling of the statue on Ver Sur Mer

Looks like that will be the order of the day again today ..

[duke63]

Omaha beach memorial

[video]https://youtu.be/-KMLe0e9e24[/video]

[bb41]

Thanks duke, that evokes some really strong emotion.. If I can get another weekend away towards the end of the year then some of these places will be on my to do list.

I hope these remembrance days continue as I am guilty as the next person of not thinking about as much as I should

[Kwacky]

People will still remember, even if it's just once a year.

Kids are taught all about it school (despite what the press tells you). I know my kids were taught at both primary and secondary school. Although my daughter has officially finished school she's off to Normandy next month with the school for their annual visit of the D-Day sites and memorials.

[Blade]

Hope your daughter enjoys the trip and benefits from the experience Kwacky.

Funny enough I was talking to a colleague the other day about a trip to Berlin. Karl is 55 but still remembers with enthusiasm the trip he made as a young boy with the Air Cadets to Berlin and told me all about it and how that influenced his life.

[duke63]

Thanks duke, that evokes some really strong emotion.. If I can get another weekend away towards the end of the year then some of these places will be on my to do list.

I hope these remembrance days continue as I am guilty as the next person of not thinking about as much as I should

Its an easier trip than most probably realise. A ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg or Caen drops you right into the centre of these memorials.

Omaha beach is the hardest one to deal with just from the pure scale of the site and the number of graves. Standing on the spot where the Nazi gun emplacements were, its easy to see why it ended up with slaughter.

WW1 sites are different as you get a lot of smaller memorials all over the countryside as there were just too many bodies to cope with.

[bb41]

Thanks duke, that evokes some really strong emotion.. If I can get another weekend away towards the end of the year then some of these places will be on my to do list.

I hope these remembrance days continue as I am guilty as the next person of not thinking about as much as I should

Its an easier trip than most probably realise. A ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg or Caen drops you right into the centre of these memorials.

Omaha beach is the hardest one to deal with just from the pure scale of the site and the number of graves. Standing on the spot where the Nazi gun emplacements were, its easy to see why it ended up with slaughter.

WW1 sites are different as you get a lot of smaller memorials all over the countryside as there were just too many bodies to cope with.

I am going to have a look at how to get there and incorporate something else as well, due to time constraints later in the year.

[Kwacky]

Hope your daughter enjoys the trip and benefits from the experience Kwacky.

Funny enough I was talking to a colleague the other day about a trip to Berlin. Karl is 55 but still remembers with enthusiasm the trip he made as a young boy with the Air Cadets to Berlin and told me all about it and how that influenced his life.

He'll be shocked at how much Berlin has changed since then. There's very little of the wall left now. It's hard to believe it was once a divided city. Still a great place to visit.

If you want an image of the devastation caused it's worth sailing in to Hamburg from the North Sea along the Elbe. Large areas along the Elbe towards Hamburg were flattened. Most of it has been left. From time to time you see large mounds of rubble where the Gerrmans did a bit of a clear up job and then abandoned the area, moving the docks further inland towards the city.

[Blade]

He still visits Berlin regular hence how the conversion started with me asking his advice on where to stay.

I think he spent some time stationed there with the RAF too. He told me how they were told to be extravagant and look flash to pee the East Germans off and make them see the West as desirable and luxurious living to encourage our way of living in their minds.

[Kwacky]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-485392 ... ier-landed" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This hay fever as made my eyes all watery,.

[bb41]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-485392 ... ier-landed

This hay fever as made my eyes all watery,.

Past few days it's been horrendous.. streaming at the minute

[Rossgo]

Very late to this thread but I have visited a couple of grave sights in Germany and Holland whilst I was in Air Cadets. Very emotional a lot of the guys were overcome with tears and we weren't that sort but it was like it overcome us. Also visited Arnhem Bridge where the commander left a note on a shot to sh!t wooden door. Amazing what the blokes did so the fit could fight another day.

Personally we need it to stay alive, we can't learn without having the next generation not knowing what their grandparents did for them, for us for the counties of the free world.



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[D41]

"You can't change the past anymore than you can predict the future.
The best you can do is to make today worth remembering."

[duke63]

You can learn from the past though. Something world leaders fail to do.

[D41]

They learn (hopefully) from their past, not other peoples'.

Eisenhower.....opposed to war, but didn't rule it out.
Trump.....not so much.

[StMarks]

You can learn from the past though. Something world leaders fail to do.

,,,,, Something most of our populations fail to do too.

[Deegee]

You can learn from the past though. Something world leaders fail to do.

,,,,, Something most of our populations fail to do too.

Sadly when we don’t teach recent history in any depth (last 100 yrs) we are doomed to repeat our failures.