D-Day

[mycats]

Am I going mad or has no-one mentioned that today is D-Day?? I am very surprised by this.
Personally I dont think we can ever imagine what these young men went through and we should never forget

[Scotman84]

They did a memorial article on the Paul O'Grady show tonight.

[Octavius]

Yes, sadly there is an overhyped preoccupation with the notion that today is 6th of the 6th, 2006.

I doubt the interweb had the same flurry of fascination in the year 666, but it is sad when you notice that even Google didn't decorate their page - as is usual - with something commemorative.

Perhaps because of the World Cup in Germany it has all gone hush hush....

[mycats]

Oh I didnt see that Scotman, you could be right about the world cup thing Octavius, how sad though!

[Maudlettice]

On 6th June 1944 about this time I was sat in a field near Cricklade, Wilts watching flight after flight of Albermarle's towing Wacko's streaming out of RAF Blakehill for France. The weather was about the same as it was today. I went on D+3.

[genesisrockz]

Sadly I didn't even know it was D-Day. Sorry but nobody had told me and the first time I even heard about it was on the Paul O'Grady Show. I agree nobody should forget about. My history teacher didn't even talk about it (and we were watching Schindler's List!)

[CLOWN TICKLE]

I was remembering, it was also the anniversary of us buying this house, we were at pegasus bridge on holiday and have just read an excellent account by the guy who wrote band of brothers

[JudgeJ]

The trouble is, mycats, the present ruling elite (and, no doubt any future one, whatever its colour) is encouraging just that � to forget anything that this country was part of in the past.

You only have to examine the disgraceful way in which the 60th anniversary of VE Day and the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar were both handled. The first was not even celebrated on the correct date, and the second involved a re-enactment involving the �Red� and �Blue� forces.

Many otherwise intelligent people have a terrible, inexplicable self-loathing for Britain and its past. They feel we should apologise for anything our forbears were involved in just in case it offends somebody, somewhere. It will not be long before Britons are expected to apologise for the part their ancestors played in the Second World War.

Failure to remember (or encouraging forgetfulness about) the past is the beginning of that stealthy process. It suits their purposes just fine if the plebs are diverted by talk of nonsense about devils and satan.

[Drusilla1S]

I expected to see much more about the D Day landings on the TV yesterday and was very disappointed by the lack of coverage and commemoration.

It would have been a wonderful opportunity to show people how nations united in a good cause can change the world for the better. Our freedoms should never be taken for granted and nor should the men and women who fought for them be overlooked.

[Octavius]

Further to what JudgeJ has said above, the more we are encouraged to forget the past, the less we learn from previous mistakes and horrors. This is when history has more of a chance repeating itself.

[Tatty Rollox]

....... well, we fought to liberate the oppressed. Here is Klara Poelzi's little lad who caused so much trouble with Eva Braun, and here is a pair of Eva's liberated underwear (naughty Tatty !!!) .....

[jake-the-peg]

The Judge's paranoia about the "ruling elite" grows more hysterical every day but leaving that aside it's important to consider why we remember.

I wish I could agree with Octavius that there is the slightesty chance that we'd learn from wars of the past but we all know that we don't. PMs of all political parties have continued to lay wreaths at the cenotaph whilst sending troops to fight in foreign wars without a hint of irony.

I believe that we do (and should) remember for the living and not for the dead. When there are none left who fought there's a process of letting go - we're seeing now with WWI.

If we didn't every day in the calendar would have to be marked, was a life lost in a major battle like Waterloo or D-Day more precious that one lost in the Battle of Ramilles?

The past is important but it's not as important as the future.

Oh and JudgeJ who exactly are you calling a pleb? How about getting off your high horse and stop being so arrogant for a while?

[Philtaz]

Lest We Forget...................

[gary baldy]

I'm not condoning the lack of coverage but wasn't there a sort of unwritten agreement last year that those commemorations they had for the anniversary of the end of the war would be the last?

I think there is a danger of dwelling too much on what has gone before and whilst i am the first to defend the sacrifices made by past generations, i do think that perhaps a line should be drawn at some point.

[Maudlettice]

Thanks Tatty. It's years since Ihad an involuntary chuckle. So that's what I did more than three years in uniform for. To liberate Eva's oppressed bloomers. Good grief. It all makes sense at last.