Are We *ever* Going To Get Over Wwii ?

[jake-the-peg]

Yet another commemoration - this time 70 years of the Atlantic campaign

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22434753

Given that WWII lasted about 5 years by the time you've commemorated a VE day anniversary it seems time to start celebrating anothe anniversary of the start of the War!

I hear the cries of 'ingrate' already and patriotic chests puffing up like pidgeons - but WWI was just as formative to those who fought in it and I don't recall continual commemorations of that from my childhood.

Why are we so obsessed with WWII and are we ever going to get over it?

[WELSHYORKIE]

Well, before you go Sqad, don't forget to fill in the flounce form!! Oh and by the way, well said - My parents and grandparents who lived through the war may be gone now but I, as an ex servicesman will always pay my respects to the fallen and hope that they will never be forgotten

[Sqad]

Welshy....LOL.......bloody "Flounce Form."

[Gromit]

I doubt whether we will be commemorating our recent Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns, in years to come.

[jno]

what bit of the Boer War should I be googling, Haggisdj?

[Sqad]

Gromit...well I won't.....;-)

[barney4444]

So you can honestly say that this the best use of peoples hard earned money,I have no intention of demeaning anything that people went through in the war,but at the end of the day this serves no useful purpose whatsoever..

[chrissa1]

There is no "obsession" with WWII. It should always be commemorated and remembered. We are here to be able to commemorate it, because of the sacrifices made by those brave men.

Generations now and to come, would simply not be here if we had not won WWII.

It should never be forgotten.

[Sqad]

barney.....it is called ........"personal choice" to do what you want to do with your own money............some people EVEN spend money on "booze"..."fags"....."tattoos".....but the bottom line is that it is THEIR choice.

[Cannaboy]

Well said squad - I wasn't born then but still appreciate all that was given for future gernations and think the least we can do is remember the bravery and sacrifice.

[barney4444]

No its not personal choice, I choose not to recover it but they are, so wheres the choice!!

[Sqad]

Sorry Barney....I think that we are talking at cross purposes and probably my fault.......I was talking of private money to raise the Dornier.....not the celebration.

[Playbill]

Well, there is a woman on trial in Germany at the moment who has not got over it. She is trying to restart it.

[barney4444]

Thats o.k sqad. I am getting confused now..

[jno]

I've got nothing against remembering those who fought and died; I can't see how recovering sunken German bombers is really going to help.

[jim360]

I think haggis was wondering why Napoleon had anything to do with the Boer War.

WWII is by far the biggest and most important War there has been, in my opinion. And as long as there are people alive who lived through it, then the events should be commemorated. Time will soon come when that is no longer the case, but it's not here yet.

[jno]

oh, I see, thanks, Jim. Obviously I was talking about two different wars.

Or perhaps not so obviously.

As far as the scale and importance of wars goes, I think a lot more Brits died in WW1 than in WW2, but apart from Zeppelin raids there wasn't really any equivalent of the Blitz, Battle of Britain etc - ie the war being fought right here. Likewise the Boer and Napoleonic wars [two different events!!] were fought abroad. So WW2 featured more civilian involvement than anything since the Civil War.

[Old_Geezer]

It is still within living memory and so affects many alive today. Also we haven't had a large war since to take over the public consciousness like the WW ones did. Besides I don't see why one should get hot under the collar about a national pride thing. There are other things folk get into that we could do without more.

[DTCwordfan]

I have no issue with the ceremonial and honouring side of things. What I do have issue with is the incessant showing of documentaries going back to the war years, Dad's Army and programmes like that (there is other British history!).

[jake-the-peg]

Did people get bored before reaching the end of the question?t

Particularly those suggesting it was because it was living memory?

WWI veterans are only recently extinct yet we certainly didn't have anything like the same cycle of repetetive commemorations over that and double the number of Britons died in that!

Many of those so obsessed with WWII didn't fight in it, many don't even seem to be old enough to remember it.

I rather presume it's to do with the story that we keep telling ourselves that has such appeal - that of national bravery and heroism that some find so attractive.

It's a story so much more attractive than the 'Lions led by donkeys' story of WWI.

I do think we need to give it a rest though

Perhaps we could reintroduce rationing - of the History channel!

[jno]

well, that's the thing about documentaries, DTC: for recent conflicts there are more documents. Putting together documentaries about the Crimea involves a lot more work and mroe static footage.20th century wars were more telegenic.