I met a lovely lady yesterday who had been evacuated twice from London to Somerset. I asked her if she'd been scared. No, was her reply, it was a great adventure. I love to listen to the tales of the War. But am so so grateful to those who went through it & am more than grateful that i never had to or will ever have to....i hope.
[cite]Posted By: KBslittlesis[/cite]I met a lovely lady yesterday who had been evacuated twice from London to Somerset. I asked her if she'd been scared. No, was her reply, it was a great adventure. I love to listen to the tales of the War. But am so so grateful to those who went through it & am more than grateful that i never had to or will ever have to....i hope.
Talk to my mother then, she talk/bore you for hours on tales from her childhood and being evacuated up north and then to Wales.
My grandad was a desert rat, my dad gave me all his medals when he passed away and all his army gear, can't wait to pass them on to my son when he's older and tell him what his grandad went through and hopefully make him proud of his great grandad.
[cite]Posted By: KBslittlesis[/cite]I met a lovely lady yesterday who had been evacuated twice from London to Somerset. I asked her if she'd been scared. No, was her reply, it was a great adventure. I love to listen to the tales of the War. But am so so grateful to those who went through it & am more than grateful that i never had to or will ever have to....i hope.
My dad says similar- was evacuated from Sidcup twice- one was good but the other feel really has never talked about- something went on that he has either erased forom his memory or wants too.
My dear old Mum tells me her stories about being bombed out of her home in Victoria Dock Road, Tidal Basin - just accross the River Thames from The Valley.
The first night of what became known as the Battle of Britain, 7th September 1940, the Luftwaffe bombers came over and set fire to the Docks.
The next day was a warm sunny Saturday. - and my Nan decided to cook the Sunday joint in case the sirens went off again on the Sunday. But at 5 o'clock the air raid sirens wailed, she turned the gas cooker off and took her 3 little girls straight down into the Anderson shelter in the backyard ....... but my Grandad wasn't home from work.
She tells me about sitting in the musty shelter barely daring to breathe, the drone of the planes overhead and the whistling and crump of bombs falling all around them. Suddenly the door of the shelter flung open, Grandad just got in, and in a cloud of dust and noise the house came down.
Normally he would have brought his bike through the hallway of the terraced house to the little shed in the backyard. But this time, he just got through the front door, left the bike in the hall and ran for the shelter. If he'd hesitated .......
Now homeless, my Mum's family spent 3 nights sheltering in the local South Hallsville Road school with many many others who had lost everything. Then they found a room in a house in North London.
They were so lucky. That same night, there was a direct hit on that school. 400 people were killed.
Including their friends and so many local people they knew.
[cite]Posted By: adamtheaddick[/cite]My grandad was a desert rat, my dad gave me all his medals when he passed away and all his army gear, can't wait to pass them on to my son when he's older and tell him what his grandad went through and hopefully make him proud of his great grandad.
Great stuff. I've got my Dad's medals. They are the most important things in our house (except the family of course).
There was avery intresting little bit on TV about an British guy who using his own money etc helped evacuate jewish kids to the UK before the war started. There was a steam train leaving (from the Czec Republic i think) with some of those kids on it. , they are OAPs now of course.He is still alive and 100 years old, he didnt tell his story for 50 years, his wife didnt even know. There is a statue of him in either Poland or the Czec Republic and he is a Sir. He was just anormal guy who was inhis 20z when this happened----------------what he did was ANYTHING but normal. His name began with a W and i have to say it was humbling to hear and i find it sad his story isnt more well known.
[cite]Posted By: Goonerhater[/cite]There was avery intresting little bit on TV about an British guy who using his own money etc helped evacuate jewish kids to the UK before the war started. There was a steam train leaving (from the Czec Republic i think) with some of those kids on it. , they are OAPs now of course.He is still alive and 100 years old, he didnt tell his story for 50 years, his wife didnt even know. There is a statue of him in either Poland or the Czec Republic and he is a Sir. He was just anormal guy who was inhis 20z when this happened
what he did was ANYTHING but normal. His name began with a W and i have to say it was humbling to hear and i find it sad his story isnt more well known.
Great story. I guess it's true that real heroes don't have the need to talk about it, they just get things done.
[cite]Posted By: Goonerhater[/cite]There was avery intresting little bit on TV about an British guy who using his own money etc helped evacuate jewish kids to the UK before the war started. There was a steam train leaving (from the Czec Republic i think) with some of those kids on it. , they are OAPs now of course.He is still alive and 100 years old, he didnt tell his story for 50 years, his wife didnt even know. There is a statue of him in either Poland or the Czec Republic and he is a Sir. He was just anormal guy who was inhis 20z when this happened
what he did was ANYTHING but normal. His name began with a W and i have to say it was humbling to hear and i find it sad his story isnt more well known.
I didn't see the programme, but a similar story is Frank Foley who saved a number of Jewish people in the late 30s. He was working in the British Embassy at the time in the passport office and simply gave a number of Jewish people British passports, it's estimated that he saved around 10,000 people this way.
[cite]Posted By: Goonerhater[/cite]There was avery intresting little bit on TV about an British guy who using his own money etc helped evacuate jewish kids to the UK before the war started. There was a steam train leaving (from the Czec Republic i think) with some of those kids on it. , they are OAPs now of course.He is still alive and 100 years old, he didnt tell his story for 50 years, his wife didnt even know. There is a statue of him in either Poland or the Czec Republic and he is a Sir. He was just anormal guy who was inhis 20z when this happened
what he did was ANYTHING but normal. His name began with a W and i have to say it was humbling to hear and i find it sad his story isnt more well known.
My 17 year old just back home after signing in for his year 2 A levels. To think if this had been 70 years ago it would have been getting signed up by the Armed Forces. We owe that generation so much. So many unsung heroes. Just wish the kids now a days realised what it has cost to give them the freedom they have now. So many take everything for granted.
As it happens we were. The Royal Navy sunk the french fleet at Oran and britain fought the French in Africa, Syria and elsewhere as many Vichy troops continued to fight and fight hard
Churchill commented that he wished the French had fought the Germans that hard.
New book out about it that Addickted would like to read.
As it happens we were. The Royal Navy sunk the french fleet at Oran and britain fought the French in Africa, Syria and elsewhere as many Vichy troops continued to fight and fight hard
Churchill commented that he wished the French had fought the Germans that hard.
Interesting. What about the Jocks? :-)
New book out about it that Addickted would like to read.
Lives were blighted by World war 2 yet much of what we fought against is slowly but surely creeping into the mainstream.
My mother and Aunt were evacuated to Abertillery where they were persecuted and bullied for the sin of being English. Ironic that I have some Welsh blood myself. That experience as young children had a lasting effect on both of them.
One of my grandfathers fought in World War 1, having lied about his age and joined the Royal Navy, which wasn't a problem then. However come World War 2 they suddenly knew his real age and, as a Royal Naval reservist, he was called up when literally a month or two from being too old. He spent most of the next 3 years away from his family.
The same grandfather was walking along Red Lion Lane near The Academy in uniform with his 3 children (my mother, aunt and uncle all aged 12 or under) when a German pilot deliberately opened fire on them. They hit the deck and fortunately for me and future generations the bullets missed.
My grandmother (father's mother) was a nurse and lived near The Eagle pub in Red Lion Lane. That pub took a direct hit from a bomb in about 1940 and two people were killed and others were seriously injured. My grandmother did everything she could with little or no equipment but still wondered if she could have done more.
The experiences recounted are those of two ordinary families of Shooters Hill at that time and others could probably have told similar stories.
People today (and I include myself in this) have little or no appreciation of the sacrifices made by our ancestors.
Very interesting post Len, never knew the Eagle was hit. 10.35 tonight on ITV, programme called "Outbreak" about the day war was declared with, among others, Richard Attenborough, Peter Blake, Tony Benn and George Cole. Worth a look, pity they couldn't put it on earlier though.
Off to Spain next week and will visit Gibraltar, planning to visit the World War II tunnels, and the Trafalgar Cemetery (Battle of Trafalgar graves, 1805), will upload some photos on return.
As it happens we were. The Royal Navy sunk the french fleet at Oran and britain fought the French in Africa, Syria and elsewhere as many Vichy troops continued to fight and fight hard
Churchill commented that he wished the French had fought the Germans that hard.
New book out about it that Addickted would like to read.
Actually it was Churchill's order not only to sink the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir but to forcibly board and take over those French ships that were in British ports without any warning in a little-known episode, provoked Vichy France into breaking off diplomatic relations.
[cite]Posted By: mistrollingin[/cite]Very interesting post Len, never knew the Eagle was hit. 10.35 tonight on ITV, programme called "Outbreak" about the day war was declared with, among others, Richard Attenborough, Peter Blake, Tony Benn and George Cole. Worth a look, pity they couldn't put it on earlier though.
Even the landlord, tenant, manager or whatever of The Eagle knew nothing of the history of the pub when relatives revisited the area about 10 years ago or more now so it may not have been publicised widely at the time. However the locals in Red Lion Lane and Constitution Rise (known as Constitution Hill then I believe) were all too aware of it sadly.
Shooters Hill has (or had) quite an interesting history around that time including a prisoner of war camp in World War 2 straddling the golf course and Woodlands Farm.
France is the only one of the major combatants in WWII to not produce an official war history. Even the Germans have a semi-official one.
But in France the war brings up so many issues that maybe they prefer not to dwell on it too much.
The surrender in 1940 (referred to as the "armistice of 1940, oh how Addickted, Peanut man and I laughed) at the museum at Compiegne, Vichy, the collaboration, the lack of help for the resistance and the active and willing role played by some French in rounding up Jews and betraying Allied airmen,
The fact that the British and US re-conquered France despite the version told by De Gaulle and the free French forces (did you now the vast majority of French troops brought back from Dunkirk chose to be repatriated to France once France surrendered rather than stay in England and join De Gaulle plus Oran as mentioned above.
For us it was a "good" war. We won, we fought and beat the baddies and we over look that we fought alongside another set of baddies so we are happy to endlessly celebrate in songs ( One world cup and two world wars) Comedies, films, books, etc, etc.
[cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]France is the only one of the major combatants in WWII to not produce an official war history. Even the Germans have a semi-official one.
But in France the war brings up so many issues that maybe they prefer not to dwell on it too much.
The surrender in 1940 (referred to as the "armistice of 1940, oh how Addickted, Peanut man and I laughed) at the museum at Compiegne, Vichy, the collaboration, the lack of help for the resistance and the active and willing role played by some French in rounding up Jews and betraying Allied airmen,
The fact that the British and US re-conquered France despite the version told by De Gaulle and the free French forces (did you now the vast majority of French troops brought back from Dunkirk chose to be repatriated to France once France surrendered rather than stay in England and join De Gaulle plus Oran as mentioned above.
For us it was a "good" war. We won, we fought and beat the baddies and we over look that we fought alongside another set of baddies so we are happy to endlessly celebrate in songs ( One world cup and two world wars) Comedies, films, books, etc, etc.
This sort of behaviour wasn't restricted to the French either, all the occupied countries had their collaborators...
In fact every occupied country had volunteers in the German army...
[cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]France is the only one of the major combatants in WWII to not produce an official war history. Even the Germans have a semi-official one.
But in France the war brings up so many issues that maybe they prefer not to dwell on it too much.
The surrender in 1940 (referred to as the "armistice of 1940, oh how Addickted, Peanut man and I laughed) at the museum at Compiegne, Vichy, the collaboration, the lack of help for the resistance and the active and willing role played by some French in rounding up Jews and betraying Allied airmen,
The fact that the British and US re-conquered France despite the version told by De Gaulle and the free French forces (did you now the vast majority of French troops brought back from Dunkirk chose to be repatriated to France once France surrendered rather than stay in England and join De Gaulle plus Oran as mentioned above.
For us it was a "good" war. We won, we fought and beat the baddies and we over look that we fought alongside another set of baddies so we are happy to endlessly celebrate in songs ( One world cup and two world wars) Comedies, films, books, etc, etc.
Hmmm...I'm sure there were lots of Brits in the Channell Islands who also helped the Germans in much the same way.
Hmmm...I'm sure there were lots of Brits in the Channell Islands who also helped the Germans in much the same way.
[/cite]
It is certainly true that some women in the Channel Islands, known as "Jerry Bags," willingly gave their favours to German soldiers in order to obtain extra rations and other privileges. They were viewed with absolute contempt by the majority though and their lives were made very difficult after the war to the extent that many of them left the Channel Islands.
Interesting stuff Len, about Shooters Hill. Although I was born in Bexleyheath and lived all my adult life in Bexley I have huge affection for Shooters Hill and the surrounding area. Years of going to and from the Valley on the 89 bus during the 1960's before I had a car, and the first love of my life, in 1966, Liz, lived in Shrewsbury Lane, so many cold nights waiting at the bus stop by The Bull after seeing her home from the Austral club in Sidcup or the pictures in Welling or Bexleyheath, and the long walks in Oxleas Woods. My late mum worked at the Police station at the bottom of the hill and my eldest son now lives where the hospital used to be, just over the lights. Happy days and wonderful memories.
Comments
Talk to my mother then, she talk/bore you for hours on tales from her childhood and being evacuated up north and then to Wales.
My dad says similar- was evacuated from Sidcup twice- one was good but the other feel really has never talked about- something went on that he has either erased forom his memory or wants too.
The first night of what became known as the Battle of Britain, 7th September 1940, the Luftwaffe bombers came over and set fire to the Docks.
The next day was a warm sunny Saturday. - and my Nan decided to cook the Sunday joint in case the sirens went off again on the Sunday. But at 5 o'clock the air raid sirens wailed, she turned the gas cooker off and took her 3 little girls straight down into the Anderson shelter in the backyard ....... but my Grandad wasn't home from work.
She tells me about sitting in the musty shelter barely daring to breathe, the drone of the planes overhead and the whistling and crump of bombs falling all around them. Suddenly the door of the shelter flung open, Grandad just got in, and in a cloud of dust and noise the house came down.
Normally he would have brought his bike through the hallway of the terraced house to the little shed in the backyard. But this time, he just got through the front door, left the bike in the hall and ran for the shelter. If he'd hesitated .......
Now homeless, my Mum's family spent 3 nights sheltering in the local South Hallsville Road school with many many others who had lost everything. Then they found a room in a house in North London.
They were so lucky. That same night, there was a direct hit on that school. 400 people were killed.
Including their friends and so many local people they knew.
Great stuff. I've got my Dad's medals. They are the most important things in our house (except the family of course).
I just hope we never have to be ready again.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8234683.stm
Great story. I guess it's true that real heroes don't have the need to talk about it, they just get things done.
I didn't see the programme, but a similar story is Frank Foley who saved a number of Jewish people in the late 30s. He was working in the British Embassy at the time in the passport office and simply gave a number of Jewish people British passports, it's estimated that he saved around 10,000 people this way.
Nicholas Winton is the man....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Winton
Today's Youth on WW2...
LOL Some thought Scotland were German allies and it was France we were fighting!
it was France we were fighting![/quote]
As it happens we were. The Royal Navy sunk the french fleet at Oran and britain fought the French in Africa, Syria and elsewhere as many Vichy troops continued to fight and fight hard
Churchill commented that he wished the French had fought the Germans that hard.
New book out about it that Addickted would like to read.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Englands-Last-War-Against-France/dp/0297852183
My mother and Aunt were evacuated to Abertillery where they were persecuted and bullied for the sin of being English. Ironic that I have some Welsh blood myself. That experience as young children had a lasting effect on both of them.
One of my grandfathers fought in World War 1, having lied about his age and joined the Royal Navy, which wasn't a problem then. However come World War 2 they suddenly knew his real age and, as a Royal Naval reservist, he was called up when literally a month or two from being too old. He spent most of the next 3 years away from his family.
The same grandfather was walking along Red Lion Lane near The Academy in uniform with his 3 children (my mother, aunt and uncle all aged 12 or under) when a German pilot deliberately opened fire on them. They hit the deck and fortunately for me and future generations the bullets missed.
My grandmother (father's mother) was a nurse and lived near The Eagle pub in Red Lion Lane. That pub took a direct hit from a bomb in about 1940 and two people were killed and others were seriously injured. My grandmother did everything she could with little or no equipment but still wondered if she could have done more.
The experiences recounted are those of two ordinary families of Shooters Hill at that time and others could probably have told similar stories.
People today (and I include myself in this) have little or no appreciation of the sacrifices made by our ancestors.
The BBC News front page http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Compared to that of news agencies in other nations, http://www.news.com.au/, http://www.france24.com/en/france, http://www.lemonde.fr/
http://www.welt.de/.
People always say that we "take it for granted" but I'm not sure that's true in this country.
Not at £19 I won't ;-)
Actually it was Churchill's order not only to sink the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir but to forcibly board and take over those French ships that were in British ports without any warning in a little-known episode, provoked Vichy France into breaking off diplomatic relations.
Nice one Winnie.
Even the landlord, tenant, manager or whatever of The Eagle knew nothing of the history of the pub when relatives revisited the area about 10 years ago or more now so it may not have been publicised widely at the time. However the locals in Red Lion Lane and Constitution Rise (known as Constitution Hill then I believe) were all too aware of it sadly.
Shooters Hill has (or had) quite an interesting history around that time including a prisoner of war camp in World War 2 straddling the golf course and Woodlands Farm.
But in France the war brings up so many issues that maybe they prefer not to dwell on it too much.
The surrender in 1940 (referred to as the "armistice of 1940, oh how Addickted, Peanut man and I laughed) at the museum at Compiegne, Vichy, the collaboration, the lack of help for the resistance and the active and willing role played by some French in rounding up Jews and betraying Allied airmen,
The fact that the British and US re-conquered France despite the version told by De Gaulle and the free French forces (did you now the vast majority of French troops brought back from Dunkirk chose to be repatriated to France once France surrendered rather than stay in England and join De Gaulle plus Oran as mentioned above.
For us it was a "good" war. We won, we fought and beat the baddies and we over look that we fought alongside another set of baddies so we are happy to endlessly celebrate in songs ( One world cup and two world wars) Comedies, films, books, etc, etc.
In fact every occupied country had volunteers in the German army...
Hmmm...I'm sure there were lots of Brits in the Channell Islands who also helped the Germans in much the same way.