78 years ago today

[Excel]

28 minutes ago, xylophone said:

My dad served in Montgomery's eighth Army in Libya (Alamein) then was part of the force which landed in Italy and proceeded northwards, however I never did get to find out all of his exploits/service, which now saddens me tremendously (although I did get to see his war medals).

 

He didn't say anything about the war or his role in it and really spoke nothing about it whatsoever, and come to that he really didn't speak to me throughout my childhood and youth, and I wonder now if that was because of his experiences during WW2?

 

It's only now that I have gotten older that I regret not trying to communicate better with him, or to encourage him to do likewise with me.

 

Sadly, when he died, I wanted to have his war medals so that I would have something to remember him by, however they were "disappeared" when I went to search for them.

 

So I have no experience of real wartime, although I did have a loaded pistol put to my head in Libya, by an irate Libyan soldier and thought that was my last minute on earth, and now when I think back to the war that our folks had to fight for our freedom, I feel saddened indeed, but grateful that they made the sacrifice for us/our future.

My Dad was like most, never talked about it although he did open up when he knew he was dying of cancer. He was in the Navy and what he went through at D-Day and then when coming across some hiding Japs in Singapore makes me truly grateful I never had to experience that myself. We owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid and all service men since who have given their lives so that you me and billions of others can live as we do today.

[Sparktrader]

5 hours ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

No. Look at Japan and Germany post war. Peace to the whole region. 
Don’t want to get too serious but I find the more right wing supporters on this site, not saying you, tend to have the attitude that all powers are bad, as an excuse for going with a clearly flawed malevolent authoritarian type, on the basis that they are all bad. They all do lie a bit and are political but there are big differences between a few lies and those that work against democracy. 
Some things are worth fighting for. 

People just want common sense decisions not illogical stuff.

 

 

[kingstonkid]

9 hours ago, xylophone said:

My dad served in Montgomery's eighth Army in Libya (Alamein) then was part of the force which landed in Italy and proceeded northwards, however I never did get to find out all of his exploits/service, which now saddens me tremendously (although I did get to see his war medals).

 

He didn't say anything about the war or his role in it and really spoke nothing about it whatsoever, and come to that he really didn't speak to me throughout my childhood and youth, and I wonder now if that was because of his experiences during WW2?

 

It's only now that I have gotten older that I regret not trying to communicate better with him, or to encourage him to do likewise with me.

 

Sadly, when he died, I wanted to have his war medals so that I would have something to remember him by, however they were "disappeared" when I went to search for them.

 

So I have no experience of real wartime, although I did have a loaded pistol put to my head in Libya, by an irate Libyan soldier and thought that was my last minute on earth, and now when I think back to the war that our folks had to fight for our freedom, I feel saddened indeed, but grateful that they made the sacrifice for us/our future.

First you are right our fathers never wanted to discuss what they did and what they saw in the war in anything but yes I was there.  As a young teen the only story I got was about my uncle getting seasick going to Korea.  After I joined the army and became a soldier myself he, my uncle and others were more interested in telling me things.

 

I heard the same thing from Vietnam vets.  It is their fear of letting it out that it will hurt them more or bring back bad memories.

 

As to your dad's medals contact the military or defence department.  I know in Canada yu are entitled to the medals and that they will if  you give them the right  info give you your dad's service record and a copy of  his medals.

 

[kingstonkid]

10 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

You seem to have a reading comprehension problem.

I agree with everything you say.

My problem is with the euphemisms. The words "sacrifice" and "gave their lives" imply dying was a choice. These people had their lives TAKEN against their will. Just RIPPED away.

Yes their lives were taken from them.  No one is denying that however when we say sacrificed what we are talking about is the fact that in most cases they chose to be in what we call HARMS WAY.  There were many military heroes that were killed attempting to do things to save others lives.

They gave their lives in order that others may enjoy freedom.

To save the holocaust and inhumane treatment of Jewish people, Poles and Check.  

Most of them volunteered to go

Many knew they would not come back.

They watcdhed their friends and in some cases brothers die in front of them and kept fighting.

 

Is that not worthy of being called a sacrifice.