Armistice Day …. Lest We Forget

By John McCrea

I wanted to gush on with thanks to all those who liked yesterdays blog but wish to edit myself given that today in the UK is Rememberance Sunday…. so THANK YOU!

TOMORROW is Armistice Day, a wonderfully observed tradition in the UK. You may have your own in your part of the world but I wanted to share with you a little of the British tradition and what it means to me.

Neither of my Grandfathers faught in WW2 as both were in ‘essential’ jobs. My Husband however had both his fight and survive.

GG as we called him was in one of the liberating groups at Belsen, the memory of fighting his way across France and the life long friendship he made with a young French boy were all but a secret. Only in very latter years did he share a few memories with and only then because I asked. What he witnessed as such a young man had marked him for life and he kept all that tucked away in his head until he left this plain. My memory of GG is one of such a kind, loving and caring man. Hugely devoted to family. Especially his wife and 3 daughters and then of course he beloved grandchildren. A truly great man in my eyes.

Bill, I never got to meet sadly as he passed when my gorgeous man was just 13. Bill managed to escape capture by the Japanese (Thank You Lord). He had been in campaigns all over the place but found himself near Burma I believe. A very fortuatous journey in a jeep with his ‘mate’ meant he was not at his base when the rest were taken. He and his mate skipped from one place to another evading capture for many weeks until they found their way to allied forces. Again, by all accounts he never spoke of it.

What these men and boys went through to allow us the rights and delights we have now is so very humbling to me. This was the second time our tiny Island Nation had to muster up forces against a then enemy….. the men and boys of the day did not disappoint. Those way too young to fight went to extreme lengths to become enlisted. I do wonder if such steel runs through so many veins today?

I bow my head to those brave young people who today join the forces, bury their politics and go to fight battles many of us may say are not ours to fight. They do it with honour, pride and dignity. For Queen and Country.

THANK YOU

Tribute at Trafalgar Square

Also thank you to the parents, spouse, children etc who hand them to us for our protection.

Here are links to the resources I have used today and another thank you to them for seeing to it that this information was available to me at the press of a button. LEST WE FORGET.

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