Marking the 70th Anniversary

Discussion in 'All Anniversaries' started by Owen, Sep 30, 2008.

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  1. gpo son

    gpo son Senior Member

    :poppy: Robert, Easton Duthie :poppy:
     
  2. son of a rat

    son of a rat Senior Member

    Sorry not 70 years ago but 5 days ago.

    Me on the left and Helen Patton far right unavailing the countdown clock for the 70th anniversary of D-day.

    So glad I returned to Normandy to Honor my dear father.
     

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  3. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  4. richardpage

    richardpage New Member

    Original post was about Vaagsoy raid. My father was on this raid. He recounted to me how he was pinned down on the beach by enemy machine gun fire. How he was thrown in the air down the beach by a mortar but fortunately was not hurt just stunned thinking he had lost his leg because it was numbed by the impact. Later towards the end of the raid Captain O'Flaherty was shot in both eyes by a German sniper but survived although he lost his sight in one eye.

    I subsequently met the Queens Messenger on a flight from Ankara to London who had served under O'Flaherty. He informed me that Brigadier O'Flaherty used to wear a black eye patch and had recently passed away two years earlier (this was back around 2001/2002 that we met on the flight).

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150640903849628&set=a.479503204627.270425.509534627&type=1&relevant_count=1
     
  5. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Monday 13th. March 1944 *
    Bags of odd jobs & a few night raids. Vesuvius still pumping away. On orders to move.

    Blimey !

    Can it be 70 years ago ?

    Ron
     
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  6. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    On this day in 1944, Orde Wingate was lost when the Mitchell Bomber he was travelling back to India in disappeared. There has been much discussion about the reasons/causes of this incident and the effect it had on the Burma theatre at that time.

    Following on from his death the use and deployment of Chindit troops changed, the result was catastrophic for the Chindits on the ground leading to countless casualties and the disintegration of their force. The men had lost their leader and talisman and then literally lost their way.

    From previous discussions on this forum:

    http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/27715-wingates-death/?hl=%2Bwingate+%2Bdeath

    http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/46622-the-demise-of-chindit-force/?hl=%2Bwingate+%2Bdeath
     
  7. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  8. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  9. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    IWM (NA 14953)
    Stretcher bearers carry a wounded German soldier past a column of jeeps, Cassino, 16 May 1944.

    [​IMG]
    THE BRITISH ARMY IN ITALY 1944. © IWM (NA 14953)IWM Non Commercial Licence

    IWM (NA 14940)
    A Grant ARV (Armoured Recovery Vehicle) Mk I tows a disabled Sherman tank during the assault on the Gustav Line, 16 May 1944.
    [​IMG]
    THE BRITISH ARMY IN ITALY 1944. © IWM (NA 14940)IWM Non Commercial Licence


    IWM (NA 14957)
    Men of 'A' Company of the 5th Royal West Kents advance along a road past an abandoned German 75mm anti-tank gun in the Rapido bridgehead, 16 May 1944
    [​IMG]
    THE BRITISH ARMY IN ITALY 1944. © IWM (NA 14957)IWM Non Commercial Licence
     
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  10. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  11. 4jonboy

    4jonboy Daughter of a 56 Recce

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  12. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  13. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

    Not forgotten - a couple of photos recently taken at the US Cemetery at Nettuno, the Anzio Beachhead CWGC Cemetery and at 'The Wadis' reflecting on the memory of the many men still lying there...

    The playing of Pipe Sgt Robert Williams and Bugler Mark Goatcher certainly matched the settings...
     

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  14. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  15. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

    For my father and his comrades, the start of June 1944 was the lull after the violent storm of Cassino and before the tumultuous storm of Trasimeno..

    “We continued advancing. We were cut off from advancing into Rome by the Americans finally coming out of Anzio and being the first troops into Rome.....We were forced to rest at Ripi. On our last day there, a jeep ran over a booby-trapped mine killing all four of its occupants. I had used that track several times daily during our stay."

    According to John Horsfall, my father's CO (from a slightly different perspective)

    "On Sunday the 4th of June, the London Irish Rifles laid on a regimental guest night....The following day, the 5th, was designated the official fall of Rome.

    The 78th Division naturally assumed that it could not have happened without them and General Charles Keightley laid on a banquet at Frosinone in honour of the achievement – though not expressly claiming what I have just mentioned. All the COs and other chiefs in the division were invited to this feast which went on in to the late evening....

    Writing home at the time he had also said:

    'The locals have gone out of their way to be kind and show every evidence of pleasure at our being here...our Doc has done a lot for them.

    The drums and pipes are playing Retreat tonight and Harry Graydon (The Reverend HC Graydon MC C of E padre of the Irish Brigade) is following it up with a service.'

    And:

    ‘We aren’t in the least bit sorry that our theatre has hit the headlines for the last time.'
     
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  16. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  17. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Some time after 09:30hrs UK time, on the 6th of June 1944, the following item was broacast by the BBC and picked up on our No.19 set.

    Transcript
    This is the BBC Home Service - and here is a special bulletin read by John Snagge. D-Day has come. Early this morning the Allies began the assault on the north-western face of Hitler's European fortress. The first official news came just after half-past nine, when Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force issued Communique Number One. This said: 'Under the command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France'.

    Ron
     
  18. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

    The only entry in the 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles' war diary was:

    6 June – IN THE FIELD, RIPI.
    1100 Battalion bathing at Mobile Bath Unit.

    No doubt, after a dozen 'D Days' of their own since November 1942 (and a half a dozen more to come over the following year), my Dad and his comrades were relieved to dodge this one and leave things to another group of very brave men, one thousand miles to the north west..
     
  19. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Had to post this, my bold to highlight the Rome bit.
    http://www.thewardrobe.org.uk/research/war-diaries/detail/18222

    2 Wilts.
    6-6-44 to 11-6-44
    Castel Porziano, Italy
    [6 - 11th] The battalion remained in the CASTEL PORZIANO area. The days were spent in rest and refitting and no training was done, other than 20 minutes P.T. and Drill daily to keep the men fit and smart. Bathing trips and inter-coy football games were arranged, but in this period there were no organised trips into ROME, which was out of bounds to British troops.
     
  20. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Owen

    My personal diary for the period you discuss above is as follows:

    Friday 9th. June 1944
    Drove 75 miles to outside Rome. Div Police led us through city. Really wonderful trip.
    Saturday 17th. June 1944 *
    Jerry about 5 miles away. Local eyties first sight of Britishers. Bags of vino
    Wednesday 21st. June 1944 *
    Travelled 150 miles in 3 Tonner for 10 hours in Rome. Got back the next day tofind Div had moved up (North). Took hours to find them.

    Ron
     

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