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D Day? Or "Done To Death Day?"

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paraffin | 18:10 Sat 06th Jun 2009 | News
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Will it ever stop being commemorated? Should it?

Is it right to, or should we say; "enough's enough".
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Whoever:

You have totally misread my initial post. I've simply posed a few questions. I have most certainly not given an opinion one way or another. I decided that given the fact that today's the 65th anniversary of D-Day, it would be appropriate to put this forward as a subject for debate? But nowhere in what I've written is there the slightest hint of how I personally view the matter.

For you to therefore reach the conclusion you have is based on mere supposition and guesswork. You know absolutely nothing about me, hence your remarks, i.e. "Paraffin will hopefully be a little more mature in his outlook and value a little more the sacrifices that others made etc etc"

Please do not be so judgemental when your opinion is not only baseless but erroneous as well.
I'm with Gromit on this one. No-one is asking you or anyone else to join in the remembrance. It is done to honour the memories of those who were there, and people will continue to travel to Normandy and other areas of conflict to pay their respects. And in fact many people do go to Rorkes Drift, not only to see a historical site but to remember all those who died there.

The next big WW2 celebration will be in September for the 65th anniversary of the battle of Arnhem. I have been going for many years and will join other veterans again this year. It will probably be the last time anything will be done on a large scale ( massed parachute drop etc) but younger veterans like me, and others with an interest in military history will continue to make the pilgrimage.

If you go to the Somme battlefields any day of the year you will see dozens of coach parties visiting the cemeteries and places of historical interest, and to stand under the Menin Gate where the Last Post has been played every evening at 2000 hrs since the 1920s ( WW2 days excepted)
That tells you something about remembrance.

No, At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we WILL remember them.
If WWII was a war to stop all wars they didn't do a very good job of it. You can put this down to the glorification of war by the blockbuster films that followed.

Like the warnings on cigarettes they should show people with their guts spewing out or their heads blown off.
Who starts wars? It's never the soldiers that die in them. It's the politicians, mean, mendacious, or mad.
We should be proud to remember the young men who gave their lives, their futures, so that we have liberties that some of us don't seem to deserve.
When you look at the old men who remember the second war, remember the people they are remembering who never had a long life that would allow them to grow old. Think of all that they might have done in their lives. They would have had families, careers, seen their children grow, had grandchildren. Their service for their country cost them that.
We should be proud to remember them.
Big D-Day memorials (with high profile politics and the whole media circus) only happen every five years. The other years are way more low-key, so I think it is not that bad. I come from Normandie, and I don't think my region is gonna stop celebrating it any time soon, considering the huge emotional scar it caused for the locals and the veterans (both Allied and German). 65 years is not that long ago, there are still plenty of people who were there and remember it, and lost a lot in the process, so it's fair enough to pay respect to them.
VHG, I think the reason D-Day is remembered ahead of other battles is that it was the turn of the tide, the day the Allies started to regain control of Europe. The actual details of the fighting, whether it was fierce, how many died, aren't actually all that relevant. It also helps that it was so clearly tied to one day that can be commemorated, unlike say the siege of Leningrad, which lasted for years.

On that basis, memory of it may linger on as Waterloo does (another battle that turned the tide) long after the participants have died. I don't have a problem with this; it's just learning history.
D-Day is commemorated because it's very easy for us to cast ourselves in the roles of "righteous victor"

How often do we commemorate the heroes of Suez?

Over a thousand died in Korea - is their sacrafice less worthy?

We celebrate D-Day because it makes some of us feel good about ourselves.

I jumped from a Hastings at Suez on 5th November 1956 ( 3 para). You can come round my place and celebrate with me anytime you like !
Jake, We aren't casting ourselves as the righteous victor - we were the righteous victor - or would you have preferred Hitler to triumph?

I don't think anyone here is under-estimating or demeaning the sacrifices made in any conflict, but in this instance, we're entitled to feel good about ourselves - or more correctly, we're entitled to feel good, and to feel proud of, and to show our gratitide and respect to those men for the sacrifice they made for this country - and for our freedom - and that includes yours.
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We are forever casting ourselves in that role - want a stock villian for a Hollywood film? - drag up the Nazis!

No of course I wouldn't have wanted Hitler to win - but that's not the point.

We keep dredging it up because it's a nice black and white war - "Good versus evil"

No nasty grey areas like Korea - Easy to understand not like the first world war.

And certainly no British attrocities like in the Boer war.

But the world has changed now - time to let it go
Time to let it go in your opinion Jake - not in the opinion of many others, including the old soldiers.
Hear, Hear, Naomi.

Derek ( 'Old Soldier')

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