Face to Face With History

[ufkacbln]

I once met an elderly lady and got chatting. Somehow the conversation came round to parachutes.
She stated that it was her one regret that she had never parachuted..... apparently when she was with SOE working behind the lines in France she had always been flown in by Lysander, but never allowed to parachute as it was condidered too dangerous.

Looking at this frail 80 odd year old who could be anyon's Gran, and realising what she must have gone through having spent much of the war ...I simply can't imagine

 

[swee'pea99]

Friend of mine's father had been in Bomber Command throughout the war. It was a kind of odd way to fight, because unlike soldiers or sailors, they'd go on missions and then, if they were lucky, come home. His gran used to host groups to dinner - her son and four or five of his mates. And every dinner, the faces changed, as men were lost in action. My friend said his dad used to tell him that his mum was the true hero, greeting all those young men, week after week, throughout the war, always cheerful, always positive, always supportive, though the strain for her of wondering when her son would be the one not there next time must have been immense, and incessant, week after week, for five years. He said his dad once showed him a picture: his squadron at the start of the war. He pointed out himself, then to two other men. All the others had been killed.

 

[EltonFrog]

It could of been her, where was your school??

In East Acton, West London.

 

[slowmotion]

I was invited to lunch by Enoch Powell in 1980.

Fire away

 

[John the Canuck]

My uncle fought in Burma during the 2nd world war. He would never talk about it.

many years taxiing - most elderly people don't say too much - but one day an older gent noticed a book i was reading about the SAS

suddenly he said..'' I was there - Burma..'' .............we talked for ages

you never know what others have been through

 

[classic33]

I was invited to lunch by Enoch Powell in 1980.

Fire away

Did you take up the invite?

 

[Browser]

Regrets here, mainly. One, one of my paternal great-uncles had been in a Japanese POW camp during WWII, but he dies when I was only about 4 or 5 so never got the chance to talk to him about it. Two, when I was in a church choir many years ago my choirmistresses husband was a vry mild-mannered welsh gent called Alwyn Matthias, who I knew to be ex-R.A.F. some years after his wife passed away I was at his house for a singing group rehearsal when I noticed an A4 list pinned to a cork board and curiosity got the better of me. It read like a who's flown what, from first transition to 4-engined plane to first supersonic flight (in a Lightning no less!!) and I'd never realised. Sadly he is now long dead as well.

 

[slowmotion]

I met an eighty year old Yorkshire gentleman in Essex at his home, fifteen years ago. He was blind and his wife had died some years before. He had a sparkle. He talked about his war reluctantly. He was in the North Africa campaign from start to finish and then landed in Normandy. He said that he was leading his men down a sunken lane, turned a corner, and saw a Tiger tank that really was not supposed to be there.
All twelve men behind him died but he woke up in a field hospital with a Lancastrian surgeon willing him on to survive his terrible wounds. " Think of things that you really want" the surgeon said. He said " What I would really like is for Yorkshire to win the County Cricket Championship this year".
The surgeon looked at him with total pity and said " Don't hope for the impossible, son."
He said that , despite the pain of laughing, he knew he would survive.

 

[slowmotion]

Did you take up the invite?

Of course.

 

[classic33]

Of course.

And!

 

[Mattonsea]

In East Acton, West London.

Could be her !!

 

[EltonFrog]

Could be her !!

Does she have a strong Austrian/German accent was she an Art Teacher do you know?

 

[EltonFrog]

and talking of history... my Grandfather was a Leading Stoker on the HMS Manxman, the fastest ship in the Royal Navy during WW2. He never spoke about it, but he did write two diaries whilst he was on that ship which I transposed into a two books and a website. If you're interested in this sort of thing and you have 30 minutes to spare you might like to read them.

http://albertpettman.co.uk/

He also served on the HMS London which was one of the escort ships on the PQ17 Russian convoys.

 

[ianrauk]

@CarlP cheers for that link Carl.
Fascinating reading. Now bookmarked.

 

[slowmotion]

And!

I was ushered into a dark room with all manner of Satanic symbols, emerging having sold my very soul to The Prince of Darkness.

Or something.