god i can picture it now, stepping out a crippled bomber, and sum auld wifie standing there with a pot giving it " time for a cuppa" these old people know stuff i hope i never will.
Just read that in the paper, His complete family should be very proud of his life. I once read the book called first light about 18 year old spitfire pilots in the 2nd world war. Very very brave men and we will always have a debt to thank them for what they did.
I was privileged to know personally Frank Beswick: Frank Beswick, Baron Beswick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia He was a fighter pilot in WW2, then a Labour MP for 14 years, later a member of the House of Lords and Chairman of British Aerospace. Posters on here can choose whether to praise him or sneer at him, depending on their priorities.
I think these guys were from a different era when service to others took priority over self; or am I just being nostalgic for a bygone age that never was ?
A proper hero in the true sense of the word; I am always in awe of people like Wing Commander Flint. There used to be a very unassuming old gent who lived down the road from me, when I got to know him a little it turned out he had a DFC and was shot down during WWII resulting in him being “knocked about a bit”. I later found out that being knocked about a bit required a long stay in hospital following major surgery. [FONT="]They just don’t make them like they used to![/FONT]
Pete, why would people sneer? He didn't have a great start in life, but went on to achieve good things.
The sad thing is that, due to their modesty, the efforts these guys went too often only becomes known after their passing. There was a bomber pilot who died locally and was on the news last week, as he had no surviving family and no-one in the home he was living in knew what he'd done. There are so many stories that should have been shared and haven't been. Unfortunately with the passing of these men we are loosing opportunity. Too little is being done to remember our history.....it is ONLY 100 years since the "Great War" (give or take a few months) and 74 since the Second World War, and yet people forget......
True and false. How many people in 1960 were harking back to 1860? Not many I suspect. Can't think of much popular music treating this period. The generation of 50 year olds (which we are) didn't live through that time, although our parents did. The generation of 20 somethings now has no connection to WW2 at all.
Some people love to sneer at members of the House of Lords as "unelected" and since they are paid a daily allowance for attending. Many of them are people who have achieved much and contributed much in their lives, and are a source of wisdom. I just cited one example, from my personal knowledge.
Hmmmm..... I like to think they DO ......... It's just that we're lucky enough to have been never put to the test (en masse). In the main, that's a direct result of my/our Father's generation standing up when they needed to. Hats off to ALL of them. We owe them a lot (maybe even everything).
This was my Fathers Cousinhttp://www.wlhg.co.uk/Other_documents/burley.htmone of those "ordinary" Blokes who gave it all
