New blog started... Before the Show

Discussion in 'Burma & India' started by zahonado, Jul 23, 2013.

  1. zahonado

    zahonado Well-Known Member

    I have just posted in the blog section the first few days of my father diary. Does anyone know how to make a list of names/ places mentioned to help people find what they want. Ideally I would like a list by the side somewhere! Bamboo and Hebridean Chindit... not sure if this is the sort of thing you are interested in but there is a lot more to come!
     
  2. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Zahonada

    Just had a look at your father's diary.

    Excellent stuff there and well worth posting!

    Not sure what alterations you are looking to make but can't think of anything that is stopping you editing the text and adding a column that shows dates and locale.

    Would you like to elucidate ?

    Ron
     
  3. zahonado

    zahonado Well-Known Member

    Ron. It was just that I was thinking an easy to read list somewhere would be useful- ideally at the side of the entries as names crop up, which they do as the diary goes on. I havent really used this before so not really sure what is possible here.
     
  4. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Zahonado

    I do emphasise with you and touched on it here:
    http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/47696-sometimes-a-simple-diary-entry-is-not-enough/

    I have played around myself with many types of format to try to include dates and locale, the one advantage is that all postings can be edited at any time.

    I think your data is so good that it stands on it's own without the need for extra info and I am sure you will find a happy compromise.

    Ron
     
  5. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    Definitely interested... how big a list of names and places do you envisage...? it might be useful to get some train route maps or the CIA India maps available on the University of Texas site to plot the route... something I have downloaded for the same reasons, to figure out the routes and place-names they took/passed across India...
     
  6. zahonado

    zahonado Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the suggestions. Will have a look at the map and see what I can do.
     
  7. Our bill

    Our bill Well-Known Member

    Wow. Amazing stuff go for it ,can't wait till its finished
     
  8. zahonado

    zahonado Well-Known Member

    It will be a while..he never used one word where three sentences would do!
     
  9. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    My wife, the accountant, says I write like that!
     
  10. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    I'm going to remain uncharacteristically and diplomatically quiet about my writing characteristics ... :biggrin:
     
  11. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Zahonado

    The Blog is fine !

    Dare I suggest the full date , year and all, would not go amiss, at least in the the first January excerpt ?

    Ron
     
  12. zahonado

    zahonado Well-Known Member

    Yes Ron you are right..will put the year on the top each time. I wasn't sure whether each entry would scroll down or whether they would be separate.
     
  13. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    I don't deal in "web-page" stuff but if you PM Adam (aka von Poop), firstly, or maybe Owen, they might be able to suggest a method of doing this, but it is quite complex to link every individual name/place/date...

    Remember that once it's posted it's "out there" and can be "lifted" into WORD and then judicious use of the CTRL/F feature will let anyone find what they want/need - most of us will have some kind of word-processor and they all have something similar... I think it might be best, Ma'am, if you concentrate on the transcribing and allowing us to enjoy your father's notes freely than worrying at this point how easy it will be for others to find something specific... after all, that's what research is all about, and it's not just for the "quick-fix" to satisfy someone's instantaneous urges... ;)

    Another thought sprang to mind... on the first page... it's anonymous, effectively... it might be worth posting something at the start about your dad - where he came from, name, rank and outfit he was with, etc, to give a bit of framework to the story, for an introduction...? also referencing the connection to your book, which is also family related, iirc...?

    Kenny
     
  14. zahonado

    zahonado Well-Known Member

    Kenny, yes I wondered about that. The unit is at the top of the first page. My father was very self effacing when I knew him and would not like the idea of " self glorification" through the war. However he wanted to write and be published and I think would approve in principle. At the moment I feel it should remain anonymous and for those that are willing to wade through it I plan to say a bit more at the end! Those that have been here a while could track him down through previous posts, but I don't think there is much point. Yes I will put up the links to the books if I can, for those wanting a very long read!
    I would also be interested to know if you all think it might be worth putting out a book at the end of it...but dont tell me till it's finished! At least there will be a copy on the computer which will make proofing etc a bit easier! My Dad was 23 when he started this and that continues to amaze me, howe young and comparatively innocent all those men were going into such terrible conditions. But reading these diaries they sure travelled and saw something of the world along the way. For some, perhaps it was indeed the best times of their lives.... Any veterans care to comment?
     
  15. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    If the eventual aim is for publication then hold back some of the material so it will be a more "complete" story in the published form - just post a taster ... I have some material in my own research that will remain "anonymous"...

    I'll say now that it's worth trying to get it published... definitely drop in the links...

    My dad can no longer comment but there is very little in his notes that make me think he enjoyed himself over there... all he came away with was a pathological hatred of the Japanese that remained with him until he passed on...
     
  16. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Zahonado

    You ask if, for some, it was the best time of their lives ?

    Speaking strictly personally, I found the war years wondrous times, in every sense of the word and writing as someone who was lucky enough to come through unscathed, bodily, at least, I do not regret a single year of my life in the Forces.

    This does not detract one iota from my feelings towards those who were ultimately responsible for inhuman activities and my eternal relief that the Third Reich, which was scheduled to last a thousand years, lasted a mere twelve.

    In loving memory of all those who perished in WW2, including a dear brother in Bomber Command.

    Lest we forget !

    Ron
     
  17. zahonado

    zahonado Well-Known Member

    Hebridean Chindit, what is your research aiming at? Re your Dads hatred of the Japanese. Mine too for many years but when I was growing up he made huge efforts to Invite Japanese and German visitors into our home which gave a big message about conciliation. He always hated the fact that I had a Japanese car at one point though!
    Ron, thanks for your reply. I am sure this must be true of others too, but of course there were so many who were scarred for life if indeed they returned at all. Reading veteran accounts can only serve to inform us of the madness of war.
     
  18. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    zahonado, I am enjoying reading your blog, very interesting for me and my research.
    Hatred of the Japanese postwar is something I've come across when being in the company of veterans from the Burma campaign or SE Asia in general. This is generally what I have found:

    Americans who fought in the Pacific tend to have hung on to their anger, especially those who witnessed either 'kamikaze' attacks on ships or barbaric torture of captured American Airmen. Not surprising really.

    The Brits are a mixed bag, some cannot forgive and as you say, would not buy Japanese cars or electronic goods in later life. Others have let the past go to some degree and a few have made a real effort to reach out to their former foe, by travelling to Japan and meeting fellow veterans of the campaign.

    Of the Aussies I have met or heard from, almost all still hate the Japanese and mistrust the country to this day.

    Not scientific, but it is what I have experienced.

    When I was a boy I loved to play soldiers and collected the Airfix plastic models, both little and the 1:32 scale. I clearly remember going to the toy shop and buying the Japanese infantry box, complete with officer and his brandished samurai sword. I was fascinated by all these soldiers, their uniforms and weapons. I would lie on the floor for hours just looking at them and moving them around. I wonder now what my Nan must have thought watching me play with these figures!
     
  19. zahonado

    zahonado Well-Known Member

    Bamboo, as you mention toys etc, have you seen the comics just after the war when the events in Burma were portrayed in very graphic terms? I think there is a site somewhere that I found quite early. I think the Hornet was one. The imagery I found appalling, and the whole "heroic" playing up pretty vile. This is not to deny there were many many brave and largely unsung heroes in the whole mess. How anyone survived in the forces or as a refugee or POW or the holocaust without more psychological damage I cannot imagine.
    Thank you for your interesting comments above.
     
  20. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    That's noted long back but not recently... eventual publication of as accurate a record of the 111th Indian Infantry Division, from inception to end, is the plan, including 230 Squadrons involvement - a digital record will also be an aim, but as the file sits at about 50GB at present... the complete files will become available for genuine researchers and those that were involved in assisting it's creation...
    A separate "Gert & Daisy" is also a probable sideline...

    Re the Japanese...
    Dad witnessed the events of the fall of Blackpool first hand, re the execution of their own wounded. He was wounded three times in the eighteen days before Blackpool fell, the last of which was severe. That combined with the cerebral malaria he suffered with, all before his 21st birthday (30th June '44), finished off his active wartime duty, being unfit and eventually getting home in '45, but he was kept in uniform until '47, as an MP, once fit enough again.
    He remains a "figure-head" for the story; it was his to start with.
    He never forgave them in any way, shape, or form... he was a smart man and stayed at school (excluding the early Defence Force/Home Guard stuff) until he was eighteen, but his call-up ended that, and six years later he ended up in the Met Police, and was the very last Station Sergeant when he retired in '77, even being regarded as "the real-life Reg Dixon", if that means anything to you...
    There is a chapter about his dad in a book where he notes his son was aiming at becoming a doctor but the war curtailed this... dad denied it but no way of knowing...

    You mentioned a car... I had problems with TDK cassettes, let alone the Pentax camera I once bought...
    There are some who have come to terms with it but many never did...
     

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