By midday on 7th June 43 people had liked this Facebook post. Many of these friends I know face to face as it were , others might be described as Facebook "pen-pals".
Watching some of the D-Day remembrances and celebrations yesterday brought the following thoughts to mind about my own Dad who passed away in 1986.
"I only wish I could say that my Dad did his bit in WWII and gallantly made his way up the Normandy beaches.What I can say is a huge thank you and pay my deepest respects to those who did their bit on D-Day and before and after to liberate France then Europe. I owe my existence to them together with my children and grandchildren.
Here is my Dad sometime before June 1940 in the French army.
He was an artilleryman. In WWII, the French at least were still using
Napoleonic tactics. My Dad, a city boy aged 21 in 1939 was conscripted, sat on a horse and told to control a second horse drawing the gun you see him with here.
He learned fast! Dodging German fire and Stuka attacks, no doubt amongst much more besides,he survived long enough to be held as a POW by the Germans On the collapse of France in June 1940.
For a period of time he was in a forced labour camp, essentially helping to keep French agriculture afloat until, just before he was due to be deported to a concentration camp , he escaped with outside help from his sister. She had somehow managed to keep tabs on him and basically he pedalled off in the night on a bike she supplied to him. He spent the rest of the war keeping out of sight until France was liberated. He never spoke about those days. He left France shortly after the war and became a naturalised Brit. some years later. I will remember them, on his behalf.Here is my Dad sometime before June 1940 in the French army.He was an artilleryman. In WWII, the French at least were still using Napoleonic tactics. My Dad, a city boy aged 21 in 1939 was conscripted, sat on a horse and told to control a second horse drawing the gun you see him with here.He learned fast! Dodging German fire and Stuka attacks, no doubt amongst much more besides,he survived long enough to be held as a POW by the Germans On the collapse of France in June 1940.
For a period of time he was in a forced labour camp, essentially helping to keep French agriculture afloat until, just before he was due to be deported to a concentration camp , he escaped with outside help from his sister. She had somehow managed to keep tabs on him and basically he pedalled off in the night on a bike she supplied to him. He spent the rest of the war keeping out of sight until France was liberated. He never spoke about those days. He left France shortly after the war and became a naturalised Brit. some years later."
I will remember them, on his behalf.
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6th June 2014
6th June 2014
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