robin1234

I'm not familiar with Band of Brothers, but I think the culture has changed radically as time has passed, 1945 to present. Same is true, but even more starkly, with holocaust survivors. For several decades people just wanted to rebuild their lives, bring up families and so on. Now survivors (whether victims or military veterans) are very aged so it's now or never in terms of recording memories.

My father arrived in Normandy with the 15th Scottish Division in June 1944, and ended up in in the military government of Lubeck in May 1945. Literally all his close friends and colleagues died in action in France, the Low Countries and Germany, and he was wounded twice. (I've subsequently read his battalion war diaries, the divisional history, and several general histories of Montgomery's campaign.)

He never talked about the campaign - the only thing he referred to was in Lubeck, being advised by the German police to keep the Polish workers confined to their barracks in case of rioting etc. The British overruled the police, and released the foreign workers. Some German civilians were killed & mistreated as a result. This seemed to be something that haunted my father more than his experiences during 11 months of fighting.

dc koop

My father-in-law who passed on a few years ago never talked of his experiences either, not even to his wife or his daughter (my wife).

He landed on Utah beach on D--Day aged 19. Later he took part in the battle of the Hurtgen Forest and was wounded. My wife now has his medals but was never able to tell our daughter much about his war service although there are a couple of faded black and white photos of him in uniform. It's a pity really because things like this belong to family history

He liked to talk of his memories of his time in England prior to D-Day but that was all.

Lion in Winter

The culture has changed. My father, who did all six years "at the sharp end" as he used to call it, once blamed a programme he saw on Vietnam vets and their flashbacks and PTSD for giving him nightmares about his time in WWII after he had retired, for god's sake. My mother told me he would wake up shouting and screaming. He was quite cross, claiming this had never happened to him until the Americans suggested it.

I can't see WWII re-enactment as a game. It's still too close and personal. I have the same problem with the idea of going swimming in the sea off the D Day beaches. Too much like swimming among war graves.

dc koop

I had a glass of wine at a small café next to Omaha Beach. The French have done a wonderful job over many years in keeping the cemetery above the beach in such a beautiful, peaceful condition. British, American and Canadian flags are to be seen everywhere.

The Vietnam vets were probably the most maligned in American military history but being blamed for causing nightmares is a new one for the books.

moneypenny20

My dad was involved in the war but where and how, I have no idea. It was never ever talked about. We don't even have any photos of him in uniform. My mother was a nurse in Greenwich during the war, she never spoke of it either. We only know stuff about her experiences because my grandmother had several stories she liked to tell from her perspective. It's sad we don't that their memories but that's how they wanted it.

kimilseung

Quite possibly the nastiest bit of faux wordsmithing I have seen in a long while

Lion in Winter

It was a bit of a strange take on my post, wasn't it.

Lion in Winter

You misunderstand.

My father was quite fond of the American troops - they had whisky, where the British did not.

Novocastrian

The Colleville American Cemetery is on land ceded by France to the USA, while the German Soldatenfriedhof at La Cambe is on land ceded to Germany.

SultanOfSwing

I didn't notice that first time around. It was a bit greasy though now you pointed it out

Lion in Winter

We need some sort of emoticon that means "listen with a dry British ear, not a literal American one" or something. I'm used to being misunderstood at work, but half the point of BE is that we understand each other. Most of the time.

SultanOfSwing

It should be a site rule

dc koop

I happen to be a bit sensitive when it comes to Vietnam vets. My brother was one. When he landed back in the land of the free a crowd greeted him and his group yelling baby killers and someone threw a bottle filled with piss at them.

I know it all.. what they went through there and afterwards back home.

dc koop

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dc koop

I visited all the cemeteries as well as the beaches. They are all very well maintained and treated with respect.

Many of the Germans buried at La Cambe were just kids whose young minds were polluted by an evil system.