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75th anniversary of D day

Danishfurniturelover

the prettiest spice girl
Is amazing what they went through for our freedom and I wont be glib about it, but one thing has occurred to me. With the near constant grief and fake mourning that we have in this country for one thing or another. Clapping a dingdonghead footballer who drive at 140mph and died was the most recent example I can think of.

It feels that the D day commiserations have lacked the gravitas they had in the past. Like the is grief fatigue and the one time it is actually worth it, I am sort of nonplussed to it all.

What those guys went through and deserves so much respect, but I am sort of closed off to being told how to think by the media, this now makes me feel a bit guilty for the truly deserving.
 
Is amazing what they went through for our freedom and I wont be glib about it, but one thing has occurred to me. With the near constant grief and fake mourning that we have in this country for one thing or another. Clapping a dingdonghead footballer who drive at 140mph and died was the most recent example I can think of.

It feels that the D day commiserations have lacked the gravitas they had in the past. Like the is grief fatigue and the one time it is actually worth it, I am sort of nonplussed to it all.

What those guys went through and deserves so much respect, but I am sort of closed off to being told how to think by the media, this now makes me feel a bit guilty for the truly deserving.

The current generation live in the here and now, they have very little appreciation of the past and although they may show respect and grief, it is does come across as forced and fake because they are too far removed from it all, were as they are involved in immediacy of a footballer killing himself in a car crash through social media.

I for one have contributed to the current state, my grandfather was a Desert Rat, fought at Dunkirk and was part of the D Day invasion, my father was a Commando and fought in the Congo and afterwards was one of Thomas Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare's men in the Simba rebellion but I have never really conveyed to my two 20+ year old children the sacrifice and gravitas of what they went through in the same way as it was told to me, I am responsible for diluting history.

I believe that this younger generation is more empathetic than my own or previous generations but they generally only seen to go thought the motions as they are not connected to the events as they are with said footballer.
 
May I ask a question of the British folk on this forum that go back generations (ie not someone like me who’s family arrived in the UK in the 70’s); do the majority of you have immediate family or ancestors that were directly involved in the Wars in the last century?





Sitting on my porcelain throne using Fapatalk
 
The current generation live in the here and now, they have very little appreciation of the past and although they may show respect and grief, it is does come across as forced and fake because they are too far removed from it all, were as they are involved in immediacy of a footballer killing himself in a car crash through social media.

I for one have contributed to the current state, my grandfather was a Desert Rat, fought at Dunkirk and was part of the D Day invasion, my father was a Commando and fought in the Congo and afterwards was one of Thomas Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare's men in the Simba rebellion but I have never really conveyed to my two 20+ year old children the sacrifice and gravitas of what they went through in the same way as it was told to me, I am responsible for diluting history.

I believe that this younger generation is more empathetic than my own or previous generations but they generally only seen to go thought the motions as they are not connected to the events as they are with said footballer.
If you go to Northern France, the school kids over there are regularly visiting all the battle sites and getting an appreciation of what it was like. Every time we've been over there they've been very sombre and respectful too - not fudging about like English kids would be.
 
May I ask a question of the British folk on this forum that go back generations (ie not someone like me who’s family arrived in the UK in the 70’s); do the majority of you have immediate family or ancestors that were directly involved in the Wars in the last century?





Sitting on my porcelain throne using Fapatalk

Not in my own family, being Irish immigrants. My father-in-law however fought in WWII but like so many, would never talk about it. His grandchildren (now in their 30s with young children of their own) will be the last generation to have known someone who fought in WWII. The breaking of that link is quite sad.

My mother-in-law’s brother, whom she idolised, died at Anzio. One of my most moving memories is of taking her to the War Cemetery there during a trip to Rome. Aged in her 70s and just on the cusp of dementia, she was the first person in her family to visit his grave. Cue tears from her, from Mr GL at seeing his mum upset, from me at seeing both of them upset - and a definite sniffle or two from our driver before he left us to be alone.
It really bought home to me a sense of the impact on those left behind who lost loved ones with little likelihood of visiting a grave or worse still, not even knowing where they lie.

I watched a fair bit of yesterday’s coverage and the extraordinarily moving interviews with the veterans. One was quite open that he did talk about what happened because he wanted the younger generation to understand that war is not the answer to conflict. Unfortunately human nature will not allow that lesson to be learned/heeded.
 
May I ask a question of the British folk on this forum that go back generations (ie not someone like me who’s family arrived in the UK in the 70’s); do the majority of you have immediate family or ancestors that were directly involved in the Wars in the last century?





Sitting on my porcelain throne using Fapatalk
My Grandad got hurt in the D-Day landings
He was the England Army football team's goalie at the time, he never played proper footie again
 
May I ask a question of the British folk on this forum that go back generations (ie not someone like me who’s family arrived in the UK in the 70’s); do the majority of you have immediate family or ancestors that were directly involved in the Wars in the last century?

I do. Both my maternal Grandfather and Great Grandfather fought in the 2nd World War (and I think the 1st for my Great Grandad, but I'd have to confirm that) - both survived the war but died before my birth, so I didn't actually know either of them. My maternal Grandmother was involved in the civilian war effort, and she died only recently. She told very graphic stories of air raids on London that she lived through.
 
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May I ask a question of the British folk on this forum that go back generations (ie not someone like me who’s family arrived in the UK in the 70’s); do the majority of you have immediate family or ancestors that were directly involved in the Wars in the last century?





Sitting on my porcelain throne using Fapatalk

My family came from Pakistan but in WW2 my grandfather who had some decent position in the (then) Indian army did logistics and transporting of weapons through the Northern routes to fight the Japanese. At the time India was part of the Empire so technically the same war. Not any real combat though although other parts of the Indian army did get involved.
 
My family came from Pakistan but in WW2 my grandfather who had some decent position in the (then) Indian army did logistics and transporting of weapons through the Northern routes to fight the Japanese. At the time India was part of the Empire so technically the same war. Not any real combat though although other parts of the Indian army did get involved.

I'm second generation as well, my grandfather fought for the British in WW2, and Suez as well I believe. Even has some medels, not sure what for. He died when I was 7 and my father said he never talked about anything that happened.

I'm very proud he fought against facism.
 
I'm second generation as well, my grandfather fought for the British in WW2, and Suez as well I believe. Even has some medels, not sure what for. He died when I was 7 and my father said he never talked about anything that happened.

I'm very proud he fought against facism.

Me too, it is a good feeling. My grandad passed when my father was 6 so we do not know much to be honest. I imagine some amazing stories would have been told if we had been lucky enough to meet him.
 
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