It is the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.I have been reminded of this fact many times recently, as a local aircraft enthusiast often guns his ancient Spitfire in the skies over Rhiallt Hill over the valley.
A few years ago, Chris and I went to a "Battle of Britain memorial" at Chatsworth House (http://www.chatsworthblog.org/) We sat on the lawns of the great house with a picnic and listened to a concert of patriotic music and songs, and I remember well, the quite magical arrival of a Lancaster Bomber and its accompanying Spitfire escort.
The singer Aled Jones was belting out one of his set pieces when a ripple went through the audience. Someone had noticed the elderly planes flying low up the valley towards the Stately home, and one by one the crowd turned their backs on the stage to face the approaching planes.
As the Lancaster roared into the view the crowd went wild cheering and waving their Union Jacks, and both planes dipped their wings in response....
The sense of awe and pride for something that happened over a half century before was amazing, and I find it more than a little sad that the generations that lived through the war, like my mother and grandparents, have all now died away
Today's generations have no real idea of what really happened .
I love such patriotic events. Yup, it is sad that so many of yesterdays heros are gone. They made the world a better place for us.
ReplyDeleteI get a lump in my throat when I see our flag wave and Pat takes off his hat and places his hand to his heart. x-c
Here in the States, many of us call the generation that grew up during the depression and fought in the war, or stayed on the home front, "The Greatest Generation" from the title of the book by Tom Brokaw. I really believe that they are.
ReplyDeleteThere are many times when I wish that the generations that have followed had their backbone.
Hello John, what a sight that would have been to see those old planes coming towards you and everyone waving the flag...getting a lump in my throat thinking about it. I love the old war planes. When I lived in British Columbia Canada we lived in a small town in the mountains and every summer there were forest fires. The planes (water bombers) they used for many years were old WWII bombers with gun turrets in the front. My father was in the war and when he would come out to visit we would go down to the small airport and watch them fuel up the planes. He said it was a mixed feeling he got watching them. The sound of them in the air brought back a lot of memories for him. Thanks for sharing that John...I miss my Dad. I hope you're having a good day :)
ReplyDeleteIt does something to your heart, when you see those old planes and think of the valiant flyers that so bravely fought for all our peace.
ReplyDeleteThat gave me goosebumps reading how patriotic everyone is. So nice to know that even in this day and time there is still pride in people's hearts.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I hear our National Anthem I tear up.
I always love going to events like that. It sort of wakes up my sometime sleepy patriotism into a full-frenzied feeling of pride..
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