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?

[DTCwordfan]

Question, a simple one:

Why aren't the Germans paying to retrieve their piece of historical junk?

[ChillDoubt]

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. AOG
--------------------------------------
It isn't meant to 'help'. It is the opportunity to preserve history, to educate our future schoolchildren, teachers, historians and tourists from the continent and around the world who visit this country and its museums in order to gain a sense of history of these remarkable Isles.
Shouldn't we have just left the Mary Rose at the bottom of the Thames? Shall we knock down Stonehenge and build a retail park?
The Dornier is a part of these islands history and I hope the salvage team are successful.
It'll hopefully be a fantastic addition to the museum at RAF Cosford.

[DTCwordfan]

Oh so it's a trophy and or gloating over. What happened to the pilots and crew? Did they survive or is it a grave-site we are plundering?

[jno]

ChillDoubt, by my reckoning, the Mary Rose was part of Britain's history. A Dornier is part of Germany's. It has about as much relevance to us as a spearhead from the Wars of the Roses - which is to say a good deal of historical interest, but not something to spend a fortune retrieving.

[anotheoldgit]

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. ///

Would you not have wanted for the Titanic to be discovered?

I can't see what recovering a 'ditched' German Bomber as anything to do with the Battle of the Atlantic, but this Dornier 17 bomber is a 'flying Pencil' and the only one in existence.

And one must remember there are still many people alive today who can remember just such aircraft as this one droning overhead and bombing them day and night, not to mention those sent to shoot them down or those flight crews that went down with their aircraft.

[ChillDoubt]

It is the last surviving Dornier 17, there are none in existence. Isn't that worth preservin, from an aviation standpoint as much as its significance in the Battle of Britain?? Or shall we just let history, the elements and the ravages of time be left to run their course and not preserve anything for future generations to study and marvel over?
Shall we demolish all museums and destroy their contents?
What next? Burning books?

[ludwig]

Is the bomber related to this? Is the Govt paying to salvage it as part of these commemorations? If not what is it's relevance? - this is a genuine question by the way. They may well be for all I know.

[ChillDoubt]

jno,
So by that reckoning, if we discovered a Viking longboat off the coast of the North East should we just leave it to rot?

The Dornier was part of the armaments and forces assembled and marshalled to invade this country. That it came many centuries after the longboat means nothing. It has the same place in the history of these Islands as a longboat would.

It may be deemed insignificant by you today, it may be a source of wonder and fascination to museum goers in another century or two.

[jake-the-peg]

My childhood was in the 70s - that's what 60 years after WWI ended

We're now nearly 70 years after the end of WWII

The point that WWII superceded WWI is a good one but the patriotism of WWI rapidly declined with the massive casulties, the apalling trench warfare

There was never a real winning of WWI in the same sense I guess.

But we can't perpetually live in the past

Perhaps we should get rid of May the 1st bank holiday and instead make November 11th a holdiay dedicated to international friendship

We could call it Hug-A-Hun day

[McMouse]

I hope I never "get over" remembering and commemorating those who gave their lives in the service of UK.

[jake-the-peg]

I hope we stop thinking of foreigners as 'the enemy' (or at least a past enemy or worse a future enemy)

But I wouldn't expect someone who's gone through the indoctrination of the armed forces to see it that way McMouse

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

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

Do you mean they will bulldoze the National Memorial Arboretum in years to come, as all those who have fallen in those two campaigns are commemorated.?

[jake-the-peg]

And if you think I exagerate

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1236595-2.html

//I can hear the Panzers firing up as we speak. //

[ChillDoubt]

I hope we stop thinking of foreigners as 'the enemy' (or at least a past enemy or worse a future enemy)

But I wouldn't expect someone who's gone through the indoctrination of the armed forces to see it that way McMouse
------------------------------------
From someone who if his country needed him would struggle to summon the courage to walk through a Recruiting Office doorway.

If it irks you so much jtp, why don't you re-locate to another country where for exercising your views in such a forthright manner you'd possibly be imprisoned without trial or even face summary execution?
Far better people than you fought and died in order to preserve the rights and freedoms you currently have in this country.
You'd do well to remember that when lighting your next joss stick.

[jake-the-peg]

No AOG

But wouldn't it be nice if they flew the flags there of all the countries that fought in those wars side by side

The German flag next to the French, the Britsh next to the Japanese

In memory of all those who died

Not just in memory of all our dead

Just to show it's not them and us any more

[anotheoldgit]

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!). ///

Haven't you yet discovered the full technical possibilities of the TV Remote Control, it will both change channels and even turn the TV off?

[Zeuhl]

/but the patriotism of WWI rapidly declined with the massive casulties/

jtp

i think you are again assuming that 'commemoration' for those involved is primarily about 'patriotism'

it is primarily about Remembrance

/thinking of foreigners as 'the enemy' /

You also seem to assume commemorating WW2 is about animosity toward the opposing side

My familial experience is that those 'commemorating' give a lot of thought to the young men who were also lost on the other side

[McMouse]

Thank you ChillDoubt.

[jake-the-peg]

//Better people than you! yah yah yah//

Oh look who's losing the head!

Funny how those who most celebrate the victory of democracy are most often the ones who most detest other people expressing opions they don't agree with

[ludwig]

We normally have to wait until poppy day for these sermons.