V J Day

[jukel123 9,416]

6 minutes ago, mushroom said:

They had no choice but to come back and continue!

They still suffered but like men they had to suffer in silence in them days.

Kinell 25 years earlier men were shot for shell shock (PTSD).

A generation "almost" broken and still found the strength to continue and rebuild. Built differently to todays wankers.

I remember a lot of guys with shell shock and a lot of amputees. Grim.

[WILF 49,951]

13 minutes ago, jukel123 said:

My old man was a prolific thief . I almost said successful. He was for the most part but disappeared for 18 months once and I put 2 and 2 together.

 Whilst he was away I never noticed any dropping of our standard of living. Food used to regularly arrive from the docks just as it did before. His mates looked after us and he must have had money hidden away.

He was a genuine kleptomaniac. If he went into a cafe he would steal the salt, pepper and the lighbulbs,soap and shit paper from the toilet. Anything that was not tied down or locked up. Seriously. Hard times bred hard resourceful people.

He was a docker, a reserved occupation but he did his bit as well. Lots of sleepless nights warning of Luftwaffe attack and putting out fires. And then unloading ships during the day.

 

. 

The reason my old boy joined in 1936 was because it was that or jail ! lol 

Dock areas mate, they are all the same 

[Seagull 671]

To see the attitude of the men back then I recommend the Peter Jackson WW1 documentary movie, "They Shall Not Grow Old." 

Talk about the stiff upper lip, these soldiers are talking about some of the most horrendous of times and horrific conditions, rotting corpses, rats feeding on bodies, stepping on to decomposing bodies, and I shit you not, there's only one account where you can clearly hear the poor man break down. All the rest are very matter of fact, even humorous, talk about battle hardened.

[mushroom 14,079]

2 hours ago, WILF said:

The reason my old boy joined in 1936 was because it was that or jail ! lol 

Dock areas mate, they are all the same 

Cheeky peaky blinder run him rascal eh!

 

[WILF 49,951]

31 minutes ago, mushroom said:

Cheeky peaky blinder run him rascal eh!

 

Yeah, most people learn their lesson not make a lifetime career out of it ! lol 

[eastcoast 4,522]

I will be 60 in December this year and had no real idea about our war with Japan until meeting a chap who fought them. Got nothing at school. We were not taught about our recent history at school. I have written about this before. Was given a swift lesson on the reality of it when making a comment on Japanese historical codes of honour and that to surrender is dis-honourable and justified why they treat POW in the way that they did. Luckily I knew the man through our mutual appreciation of Jack Russells. Even though he was into his 70's at the time, he probably would have knocked me out if we were not already friends. It was not something that he had spoken about before, but once he started talking, I listened. This was years ago. Long story short, he got out of Sinapore when it fell. Hooked up with another regiment. Got taken prisoner, escaped, got back to England, got fit again, went out to fight again. And he spoke with pride about how many he killed. The war ended, and he returned to normal life. That's how they did things back then.