I've never got the whole joking French cowardice thing. Only reason the Germans didn't clean sweep western Europe with blitzkrieg was the fact that particularly bad weather meant Operation Sealion could not take place immediately. If not for the channel it would all have been over on the Western front by 1940. That winter gave the UK just enough time to prepare for the battle of Britain etc. There was epic counts of bravery and heroism on all fronts. Just as the cruelties of war were also played out on all fronts by all sides.
My grandfather would never talk about the war. So many years later he could never bring himself to talk of what he saw or did. I remember as a young kid eating round my other grandparents. A friend of theirs was there and he ate all the fat and gristle on his plate. I was a bit leery because personally my family didn't eat that. You're talking pork chop fat. I was 7 maybe. But then when everyone had finished their plates he took the leftovers off the other plates. Scraped them onto his plate and ate them too. It sounds horrific telling it like that but no one said anything and just carried on the conversation like it was normal. As a kid I was proper shocked but my mum gave me the 'shut your hole Right Now' look. And you know. Ok. Being 7 I knew to be quiet.
When we were driving home she explained he'd been captured by the Japanese and starved for years. I'll never forget that moment in my life.
Going on now in Ukraine and it's the same old sh**. Normal people from both sides dying and suffering for the sale of a handful of old maniacs.
I saw today on the news about people donating to Ukrainian civilians, clothing and bedding and so on. Medical supplies being in desperate shortage. I'll be sorting through some stuff tomorrow. Might help a small bit.
Sorry if I went on a bit there.
My grandfather would never talk about the war. So many years later he could never bring himself to talk of what he saw or did. I remember as a young kid eating round my other grandparents. A friend of theirs was there and he ate all the fat and gristle on his plate. I was a bit leery because personally my family didn't eat that. You're talking pork chop fat. I was 7 maybe. But then when everyone had finished their plates he took the leftovers off the other plates. Scraped them onto his plate and ate them too. It sounds horrific telling it like that but no one said anything and just carried on the conversation like it was normal. As a kid I was proper shocked but my mum gave me the 'shut your hole Right Now' look. And you know. Ok. Being 7 I knew to be quiet.
When we were driving home she explained he'd been captured by the Japanese and starved for years. I'll never forget that moment in my life.
Going on now in Ukraine and it's the same old sh**. Normal people from both sides dying and suffering for the sale of a handful of old maniacs.
I saw today on the news about people donating to Ukrainian civilians, clothing and bedding and so on. Medical supplies being in desperate shortage. I'll be sorting through some stuff tomorrow. Might help a small bit.
Sorry if I went on a bit there.
