http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8665112.stm

- Not too many years ago, after my grandmother had passed away, we found among some of her things a fantastic picture of her entire neighbourhood gathered together around a long table in the middle of their road, celebrating VE day in 1945.

It's such a shame that, while we grew up with these things etched vividly in to our memories by our grandparents, we may very likely not be able to confer the same sense of reality to our children, or grandchildren, and I'm sure as we grow old VE day may well be forgotten, perhaps like the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

So think about that momentous time today with the same sense of relevance - while we still can!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8665112.stm

- Not too many years ago, after my grandmother had passed away, we found among some of her things a fantastic picture of her entire neighbourhood gathered together around a long table in the middle of their road, celebrating VE day in 1945.

It's such a shame that, while we grew up with these things etched vividly in to our memories by our grandparents, we may very likely not be able to confer the same sense of reality to our children, or grandchildren, and I'm sure as we grow old VE day may well be forgotten, perhaps like the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

So think about that momentous time today with the same sense of relevance - while we still can!

That's a great visual Halo and thank you for helping invoke it. Most of my family connections from WW2 didn't return so my family was pretty anti military for a few generations. However my fav Unc Terry carried a letter I wrote to him in Vietnam, eerrr okay he carried it then and still does.

When I came back in early '92 from Desert storm I had a golden ticket. Folks treated me like gold all the way back and for months afterwards. That same "spirit" isn't there now and I agree it's sad.

Happy VE to ya Halo you sexy beast.

that same "spirit" isn't there now and I agree it's sad.


SO very true Fanny. I don't support war at all, but I support our troops and I do think they deserve a hero's welcome when they get home.

Maybe its because of where I live (so many bases, the Pentagon, Walter Reed, etc.), but it is quite the opposite here. I feel like veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are all quite highly regarded, recognized at any large gathering or event, there are groups here that have been finding them jobs when they return, etc.

Interesting but true:

Approx. 20-30 of us were still in our advanced training (that period following basic training) and headed home for Christmas on the train, from Baltimore to Philly to Chicago to Minneapolis, with folks disembarking along the way. We were all brand new, with only the National Defense ribbon and our marksman badges. We drank the train dry from Baltimore to Philly without any soldier buying a single drink; all the beer and most of the hard stuff from Philly to Chicago, and what beer that could still be tolerated on to Minneapolis, and all bought and paid for by fellow passengers and WWII/Korean vets.

When I came home from Nam, wearing my 101st combat patch and ribbons, I was snubbed by fellow passengers, and even by most of the old gang of friends from younger days. That war/conflict/police action/bullshit just had too strong of a divisive affect on people that they could not separate the soldier any longer.

Fortunately, with Desert Storm and the Dubya/Cheney declared wars, we are seeing most have regained that ability to appreciate the service personnel regardless of our attitudes toward the conflict.

I can see within another ten to fifteen years where the only war that will be still in most minds will be the Middle East. Neither Korea nor Viet Nam have any dates related to them (including the evening the plane touched down carrying all those PoW's, shame on us all) in the same manner that WWII does, and there are fewer and fewer left that can tell those tales.

Hmmm, think I am rambling. Happy VE Day, Halo and all. (belated)