Mod to Suedehead

[Man-of-Mystery]



...My grandfather never spoke of the war...

A lot of blokes who went through it stayed shtum, it wasn't all cups of tea and cheerful Tommies.

 

[whodicapfit]

I think the story you mention may be here. I would like to write about it, but I know very little about his day-to-day experiences, what they ate, what the 'feel' of the country was like, and so on, for the simple reason that he wouldn't talk bout it all that much. I do have a lot of books about WW2 in the Balkans.

Bringing it round to 'our generation' again, many of us had dads who had been in WW2. My dad used to say that when he was in his late teens in the late 30s, lots of working class lads went off to fight the fascists in Spain, and middle-class lads joined the 'Left Book Club'. I get my anti-fascist leanings from him, no doubt about it. It has been said before, but if any of us our generation had gone around sieg-heiling we would have been given a good hiding!

No I can't for the death of me remember but it was tied in with a motor bike ride and getting promotion and a new uniform made as it could be tailored as it was an officers rank but the hat was not ready yet . Also mentioned he was going to meet his brother and something about the gloves that they are wearing .But again I read constantly and might got two books or articles mixed up

 

[browniecj]



A lot of blokes who went through it stayed shtum, it wasn't all cups of tea and cheerful Tommies.

It has only come to light lately that my Father was POW(towards the end of the War)in a Japanese Camp.My eldest Sister said that when he came home,he was a walking Skeleton.He never spoke about the War and he would only watch the Cenotaph Service to honour his younger Brother-who was killed in Burma.

 

[Man-of-Mystery]



No I can't for the death of me remember but it was tied in with a motor bike ride and getting promotion and a new uniform made as it could be tailored as it was an officers rank but the hat was not ready yet . Also mentioned he  was going to meet his brother  and something about the gloves that they are wearing .But again I read constantly and might got two books or articles mixed up

Then I'm afraid it must have been another bloke, because my dad didn't have a brother.

 

[baggycasual]

Those "working class lads" would have been better off in the book club in my opinion. Most who went to Spain were recruited and sent to their premature deaths by counter-revolutionary Stalinist CP's. If they were fighting anything in Spain it was in defense of capitalist production and the state AGAINST the working class. 'Anti-fascism' is a ruling class ideology. It's worth noting that in WW1 the unions acted as recruiting sergeants to the inter-imperialist carve up and the deaths of needless millions of workers. I thought at least this forum wouldn't be full of patriotic and nationalist banality. It is in the interest of all workers not to fight other workers but fraternize, disobey orders, strike etc.

 

[Ed Vaughan]



Those "working class lads" would have been better off in the book club in my opinion. Most who went to Spain were recruited and sent to their premature deaths by counter-revolutionary Stalinist CP's. If they were fighting anything in Spain it was in defense of capitalist production and the state AGAINST the working class. 'Anti-fascism' is a ruling class ideology. It's worth noting that in WW1 the unions acted as recruiting sergeants to the inter-imperialist carve up and the deaths of needless millions of workers. I thought at least this forum wouldn't be full of patriotic and nationalist banality. It is in the interest of all workers not to fight other workers but fraternize, disobey orders, strike etc. 

Some laudable sentiments there, but... where do you draw the line?

At what point should Britain - and its allies - have thrown their lot in with Hitler and Stalin and carved up the world?

Just asking, like.

 

[Man-of-Mystery]



Those "working class lads" ... who went to Spain were recruited and sent to their premature deaths by counter-revolutionary Stalinist CP's... 

Well, my sentiments entirely, except for the lads who went and joined CNT and POUM militias, but boy-oh-boy are we way off topic here. The complicated situation of Spain in the late 1930s is really a subject for a totally different forum. That's why I tried to bring us back round to our dads' attitudes in the 1960s.

 

[Man-of-Mystery]



Some laudable sentiments there, but... where do you draw the line?

At what point should Britain - and its allies - have thrown their lot in with Hitler and Stalin and carved up the world?

Just asking, like.

Okay, I can't resist this one. Our 'democratic' government in 1936 secretly backed Franco. They would have been perfectly happy cozying up to Hitler, as a buffer between them and communism, but he happened to attack Poland, with whom we had a treaty. The rest is history...

Speaking of history, I hereby promise to post only about the 1960s from now on.

 

[Sirryacus]

It has only come to light lately that my Father was POW(towards the end of the War)in a Japanese Camp.My eldest Sister said that when he came home,he was a walking Skeleton.He never spoke about the War and he would only watch the Cenotaph Service to honour his younger Brother-who was killed in Burma.

My Great Uncle was in the Korean War he refused to talk about it as well word is he had to kill a child solider or be killed himself.

 

[Sirryacus]

Okay, I can't resist this one. Our 'democratic' government in 1936 secretly backed Franco. They would have been perfectly happy cozying up to Hitler, as a buffer between them and communism, but he happened to attack Poland, with whom we had a treaty. The rest is history...

Speaking of history, I hereby promise to post only about the 1960s from now on.

I'm thoroughly convinced most western governments didn't really care what Hitler was doing until they realized hey this guy may be a real threat to our power and we can't have that.

 

[browniecj]



I'm thoroughly convinced most western governments didn't really care what Hitler was doing until they realized hey this guy may be a real threat to our power and we can't have that.

It is interesting how Companies were still doing Business with Hitler`s Germany=even after Poland.I have a Book somewhere that lists them.A few were 2Household Names".

 

[browniecj]



Those "working class lads" would have been better off in the book club in my opinion. Most who went to Spain were recruited and sent to their premature deaths by counter-revolutionary Stalinist CP's. If they were fighting anything in Spain it was in defense of capitalist production and the state AGAINST the working class. 'Anti-fascism' is a ruling class ideology. It's worth noting that in WW1 the unions acted as recruiting sergeants to the inter-imperialist carve up and the deaths of needless millions of workers. I thought at least this forum wouldn't be full of patriotic and nationalist banality. It is in the interest of all workers not to fight other workers but fraternize, disobey orders, strike etc. 

.He was called up the same as thousands of others(they did not really have a choice.Oh! yes there were a lot that did not go(besides C.Os)but that was nothing to do with Politics-more to do with greed(Black Market Spivs etc).They went AWOL and never returned.

Enough of this Politics crap!!

 

[browniecj]

 

[Clouseau]

I know it's risky business to post a picture now, as everything was already posted...
But well i give it a try, as i don't remember this one. Dated 1969, with no other infos.

Looks like these girls took their boyfriends clothes !

 

[Ed Vaughan]



I know it's risky business to post a picture now, as everything was already posted... But well i give it a try, as i don't remember this one. Dated 1969, with no other infos. Looks like these girls took their boyfriends clothes !

I've never seen it before - nice.