I think by and large people are OK with it if they are given clear instructions. There are less and less of those for whom it was second nature. I noticed in hull today the cadets were giving out order of service leaflets, don't remember seeing that before.
Of the 6000 Anglo-Irish mansions that were erected in that country, only 600 have survived, many succumbing to fire and plunder preceding, during and after the events circa 1916 to 1922. One of those to survive, and ironically, is now home to among other things, the Irish Famine Museum, is Strokestown Park House, in north Roscommon. The reason that it stands today is because the Old IRA, didn't fancy attacking a house being occupied by British soldiers, in this case the East Yorkshire Regiment. Apparently, you can now tour and view a mural the soldiers had painted there about the regiment, and some of their exercise equipment still exists also and is there on exhibit. It is good to know that the remnants of what the Irish might have perceived as the "enemy" are retained and exhibited ( King William of Orange is prominently displayed in the drawing room!!!) rather than this weird new global rush to whitewash and obliterate historical events and figures and rename streets and knock public monuments because they don't fit comfortably with current thinking. History is history, no matter what side you were on, and adjusting it for modern tastes simply dilutes and distorts the facts. It changes history into fiction.
I was there back in 2016, on a visit a day before a wedding. I actually didn't see the mural or any mention of the EY regiment, but wasn't on a tour, just 'mosying' round (is that still a word?), so must have missed it, or the room was closed. I find walking round historical buildings and the grounds relaxing, rather than have a burning interest in history, so don't always read the signs or follow the guide. I think the reason the national famine museum is there is because the original owner was executed as he evicted several thousand tenant farmers, who largely perished from starvation. Apparently the English population were largely sympathetic in support of the Irish and their suffering until the government and media used the execution of an Anglo nobleman to change public opinion. It's a nice hours walk around the building and grounds.
Very few of the younger generations today knew or met anyone who fought in WWII, let alone WWI. My grandparents’ fathers fought in WWII and my grandparents’ grandfathers fought in WWI. They told me second-hand stories and I know the history of the Hull Pals and WWI in general as a History graduate and my great-great grandfather’s name is on a plaque in Paragon Station next to his brother’s, both of whom died at Arras. But the Great War is as distant to me and my generation now as the Napoleonic Wars were to a young British soldier fighting in WWI so my generation don’t have that immediate link to it. However, there are people today in their 70s and 80s whose parents and grandparents fought in both World Wars and they would’ve experienced the aftermath of it and how it affected them. EDIT: grammar mistake
I'm of an age whereby my Grandfather fought in the WW1 & my Father in WW2. Both rarely talked about their experiences, as I think they just wanted to forget or never wanted to share their experiences with their children or grandchildren.
My nana and granddad said neither of their fathers talked about their experiences in WWII. My nana's granddad and his brother both died during WWI so she never even met them. All I know is from what my nana and granddad said about where they served e.g. Italy, the Western Front and North Africa etc. but not the details. My nana has a picture of her father when he was in Sicily.
Most of my pals also said that their fathers rarely spoke about their time in the war. I know my father was in North Africa and Italy, but only found this out from my mother after his death. I only knew my Grandfather was in the tank corp in the WW1 as my Grandmother gave be his medals after he passed away.
"No good trying to imagine what was in the thoughts of those at the time by placing modern day thoughts on it." The modern day me would have lasted two days at the front. First day, ok son walk towards those machine guns. Being a great joiner-inner, whoopee lets go. Somehow survive. Second day, ok son walk towards those machine guns. What???? Ya ********** daft. No. And end up shot by the firing squad. To modern day thinking it is incomprehensible that those men did just that.. Day one and days after. Their mates in the "Pals Battalions", lost, not one by one, lost in the dozens in one futile assault. Sharp Street has a memorial. One street. Very different thoughts back then. When Duty, and King and Country, was something special.
Sorry, I just don't see that as a heroic or honourable death(s). Hundreds of thousands of British and Irish (and French, Italian, German etc.) teenagers herded to their brutal deaths, often just to gain a hundred metres of land in Belgium. It's a pointless, disgusting loss of life through butchery and decisions made by middle aged men - hopes, dreams and futures destroyed and if Remembrance is properly observed, the 2 minute silence police should focus on that no one should ever have to suffer or die in this way ever again in any war.
Like you say not many did plus they had a thirty years secrecy clause I believe . My grandad's brother was aboard a ship called the Curacao it was escorting a large ship bringing across soldiers from USA . They used to zig zag to avoid German submarines but the large merchant ship got to close and hit it . The Curacao sank and only 99 of around 350 survived and obviously he was my great uncle . I used to go see him with my grandad when I was young and he was always distant . Once he was just laid in the floor staring at the fire and said nothing . He never told my grandad what happened and my grandad died not knowing but always said something happened during the war and he never once spoke about it . He was obviously torchered by watching his shipmates drown and we only found out after my mam and dad found a picture of him at Eden camp and looked into it then coincidentally a few months later a program was in one of the Sky channels about it .
This is your opinion you're entitled to it,for the note book,mine differs vastly. Sadly,the truth,opinion and feelings of those who have died in the theatre of war will never be discovered...
Not sure where I stated honorable or heroic. But feel free to interpret my inedequate musings on those horrors any way you like.
No apology required from me.Our opinions differ,it happens,One of us may be right or wrong,the other may be wrong or right
This thread was started as a mark of respect for those who've made the ultimate sacrifice during conflicts over the past hundred years or so, discussions on which conflicts individual posters feel were or were not justified, or were badly handled, are completely irrelevant in that context.
This has to go down as a very good post,a very thought provoking post.. I've never really thought of remembrance day through a young person's perspective,their feelings,their connection.(not through ignorance I might add) The link they had with those who went off to war,the age gap,the gap in generations that differ so vastly from some of the 'older' among us.. I used to sit on my Grandfather's knee as a child(he fought in WW1) , yet there's a direct family link here to grandparents-grandfathers who also fought in the same war. Like I say,it's an enlightening post and it's very thought provoking to me anyway.
My closest connection to WWII is my grandmother having fled Germany as a Jewish girl, having left behind her older sister and mother, although never had the chance to have discussions with her about it as she developed terrible dementia when I was still only 12/13. But I did have this thought the other day over this past weekend's remembrance, as we move further and further away from WWI, the connection to that war lessens amongst the younger generations, not through ignorance but just through the distance of time. It's a great comparison to the Napoleonic Wars where even those who served in Korea/Vietnam are now of an age that for the younger generation equates to what was for us (I presume we're of a similar age) a connection to WWII.
