Remembrance Day 2008

[pyat]

The last Lancaster bomber (last still flying) in the world just went over, flanked by two other planes.


My mother's father was RCAF ground crew. He left behind his wife, two sons, and a daughter to serve a homeland he'd left at the age of 2. He, and a million other Canadian men, were volunteers - there was no conscription.


My father's father did not serve in the traditional sense. His country was invaded and occupied in early 1940, and intermittently bombed by the Allies throughout the war. He and my Oma raised two sons and two daughters in very difficult conditions. 250,000 of his countrymen died. Near the end of the war, he was placed in a concentration camp. He escaped - which is probably a story that deserves an entry of its own. (Note - he's wearing a Salvation Army uniform in this photo - he was the bandmaster of the Utrecht church).


I should also mention velvetpage's brother. We have some fundamentally different views of the world, but I recognize him as a decent and brave fellow. He's served tours with the Canadian Armed Forces in Serbia, the Middle-East, and Afghanistan.

Comments

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

Your father's father escaped from a concentration camp?! That's incredible.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Yup! Though not a "death camp" or anything - just a sort of work camp or something. He and several others escaped in transit.

[relee.livejournal.com]

My grandfathers both served in World War 2. My great grandfather served in both world wars, the poor bastard. Lived to be 96 though so he got a good run of it.

Unfortunately they were all long dead by the time I was old enough to appreciate it. I would have really liked to hear about it first-hand like that. My grandfather on my father's side was a bombadier. He flew in planes and dropped bombs on Berlin. My grandfather on my mother's side was living in holland at the time and was conscripted by the germans along with his whole village, but after being trucked across the continent they abandonned their post and all walked home across Europe.


Uh, I kinda slept through today. I didn't realize it was rememberance day today, untill I turned on my t.v. when I woke up, around 5:30pm. ^.^;;

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

My grandfather, my dad's dad, was an RAF mechanic in WWII. He was stationed in Singapore until October of 1941, at which point he sailed home. He spent the rest of the war keeping planes aloft, while my grandmother hid in the Underground with my infant aunt.

In another thirty years, Jon will look very much the way I remember Granddad. My dad resembles him now.

His father, my great-grandfather, died in 1919 as a result of the gas attacks in WWI. My grandfather was ten at the time, the youngest of ten children orphaned.