THANKYOU

[ACE]

Lets give a big thankyou for all the people that fought in the war 60 years ago and stopped us being ruled by Europe.

Here is a picture of EJ, Doris and Garden Cadet and being evacuated

[ACE]

[Lily]

THANK YOU   THANK YOU   THANK YOU   THANK YOU

[tim]

If you've read 'the plans', ravaged, I believe, would be a suitable word, heritage?

But yes, I'm thinking a lot of my chums who didn't survive.

[RSJK]

I would like to give my thanks to all of the brave people involved in giving us the right to live in a democracy, and to all that have relatives who fought bravely for us and never returned.

A big THANK YOU to you all.

[honeybee]

Yes its definitely a day to have a quiet little think and to remember those that we lost.

We have a celebration today locally with lots of music and brass bands so i will be go and spend some time there this afternoon.

[busy_lizzie]

Yes, we have got a lot to thank those brave men and woman for.  I am thinking of them today.  busy_lizzie

[return of the mac]

absolutely, thank you to all from the war, after all allotments were a byproduct of the war werent they?

[Carol]

Yes, we should think of all the brave men and women who did not return from the 2nd World War.  We owe them all a lot.

I was thinking of you the other day TIM.  What were you doing on VE Day.  Have you ever shared your War Time experiences with us on this board, or is there too many experiences to record.  I, for one, would be interested.

[BAGGY]

I echo that thought

[tim]

Brief summary = Shed - Profiles - Page 1.

VE? India -Tactical & Weapon Development Unit.
(VJ - on my way down to invade Burma. That was a close one!!)

Love curries!

PS  Picture below was on that unit.

[wardy]

Shed a few tears today as I remembered my father, and my uncle who was killed at 24 in April 1945!.  My father didn't die in the war though.  He was lucky enough to come home starving but alive after being taken prisoner in C.Slovakia (sorry can't spell it).  My mother served and was in the ATS and I'm so sad as she's in hospital at the moment.  She is badly demented and I don't think we'll be able to discuss VE celebrations with her but SHE WAS THERE IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE 60 years ago.  My mum stayed on in the army after the war but didn't like it.  My dad was regular army when war broke out and had to make his way to the front.  As well as WWII My dad served in India for years (peacekeeping duties) NW frontier and all that.  He always told me to try and visit Darjeeling which I hope some day I will.  My sister has an old picture of him in his Gordon Highlanders uniform and I think the hats (chip bags) were great  ;D   Tim my dad was in India, Pakistan/Afghan border for yonks so developed love of spicy food.  Me too

[Carol]

 ::)

My late father was in the 8th Army serving in Burma and India.  He didnt talk much about the War.  I believe they were referred to as the 'lost army'.

He didnt like Indian food, it reminded him of the War.

[Roy Bham UK]

:) Yes we have a lot to thank them for so I would like to say a very big thank you too!
Carol my Dad  talked very little about the war, pictures he bought back we had to guess where they were before he would tell us. I still have these pictures to treasure.

We believe he travelled to Austria, Egypt, Israel and Africa to name a few.

I really enjoyed the VE Day Celebration on BBC1 this evening in Trafalgar Square, shame Vera Lyn couldn't sing us out at the end. :)

[kitty]

i think it was the forgotton army carol-it was because they didnt come home til 6 months after the official war ended-my dad  was in burma all thru the war in the 8th-i still remember him having malarial attacks when i was a kid-he really suffered even tho he was captured only briefly... :'(



wardy-my sympathies me duck :'(.....my dad died 11 years ago and the secondaries got him in the brain so he went benignly mad-i nursed him thru his last 3 months and it was a tough time for him poor ol' s*d.he was a lovely bloke-a rascal in his youth but always good to us..
*sigh*sometimes its just not fair is it?

tim-i wonder if you got anywhere near dad?
nice to think you may have...... :)
isnt it strange that no-one in those wars needed counselling on their return...........truly brave people......

[maz]

Ive only just seen this but would like to add my thanks too to all those brave men and women .

It seems none of my near relatives died which seems amazing when whole families were sometimes wiped out.

Tim I was thinking of you too. I dont know how old people on here so dont know who else to include by name  but I know Tim did his bit. Thank you.  :-*

[Mrs Ava]

Avas grandad went down in the Rawalpindi, and my dads dad was bombed in the trenches, and died years later due to complications because of the horrific injuries he suffered.  I never knew my grandad, and Ava never knew his.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

[tim]

By the grace of God, kitty, after a bit 'in defence of Calcutta' - I was 'in support' of the frontliners there. Furthest forward was flying out of Chittagong.

I lost too many friends there. And to think that, after the bombs, 'they' said 'the war is over - we're all friends now'!!

Like so many others, my father never mentioned WW1, despite having 'done good' for his country. Wish I had known. So funny that we were both in Murmansk - some years apart! And both - no, don't cry! - had the same injuries.

[wardy]

My ol grandad was in the trenches and had trench foot which I can always remember bothered him and he was always nursing his poor feet. 

Kitty my dad suffered from recurring bouts of malaria too  :(

My dad used to talk about the war to us a lot because we were fascinated by it and he was a very good story teller.  His body was covered in tatoos - mostly done in India as he said there wasn't much else to do except keep his head down  ;D  He used to use his tatoos to illustrate his stories.  He had a new tatoo in each country or campaign so his body was like reading a story and we used to be enrapt by his tales of adventure and derring-do.  He used to elaborate of course and tell such tall tales but we loved it.  He shared with us all the sad stuff too.  He was covered in shrapnel wounds and nearly died of starvation as a POW but he always felt he was blessed as he made it back  :)

[Ceri]

It's vital the message stays alive - for many of us, in our children's (or children's children's) lifetime there will be no-one left who was actually there to tell the tale - we must keep passing it on.

My husband took my 5 yr old son James to the service at W Bay Cenotaph on Sunday and he actually had the chance to meet and talk to some veterans - this brought such a sense of reality to him even though he is so little - real people, real war and so few children will have this experience much longer.

[Doris_Pinks]

My Mum wants to take my daughters to the Imperial War museum during the holidays, I think it is a brilliant idea. They have heard from my Mum about being in the shelters, hearing the bombs, losing best friends, rationing etc. But we feel they need to know more as it does not seem to be taught at school past primary level.

My Dad drove tanks, and was in one of the first lot of troops to go into Belsen, he never discussed it and we never pushed the point. He never discussed the horrors of  his time in the war all, but told the humourus tales such as getting seperated from the rest of his regiment in the tank, and stumbling across a solo German tank also lost! :o  (How can you lose tanks??!!)

We were always very proud of him and all the others that fought to protect us, my Nephew has his military medal framed in a box as his prized posession.