War Veterans

War Veterans

Written by : Jeffrey R Hilton

This is the time of year when most of us pay homage to the veterans that made so many sacrifices.Many with their lives. A lot of younger people have no idea of the horrors seen and lived by most war vets.  These young people need to learn and remember what the generations before them went through so they could enjoy freedoms they would never have if not for these brave and selfless individuals.  
I am well informed,  about veterans,  having lived in the U.K. for four years;Two of them with veterans in a sheltered housing for retired service personnel setting.  And an additional two years associating with another group of vets in another sheltered housing setting in England.  I've always held an interest in the history of war and am well read in the subject.


I have the deepest respect for these older folks and I got to know many of them,  and heard many stories.  I also ran into a few vets that didn't want to talk about their experiences.  this is common among veterans.  These guys are hard nuts to crack and who could blame them for not wanting to talk about some of the horrors they endured.  Most of them have spent 60 years plus waking up every night from vivid dreams of  horrible experiences endured and would rather not dredge up old memories.  


One thing that irks me to no end at this time of year are the amount of thefts of poppy funds boxes.
It's absolutely heartless as these veterans need this money and certainly deserve it more than a bunch of crack heads that thinks it's open season on these boxes every remembrance day.


A lot of these war veterans fought their way through  multiple conflicts and wars.  That, is guts, perseverance and pride of country.  One of the soldiers I had the pleasure to know was one of the guys that didn't like to talk about it.  He was Airborne and parachuted 3 times behind enemy lines. He was captured the first time and threw into a prison of which he escaped.He made it back to England only to be dropped again into enemy territory where he was again captured and escaped.


The third time he was captured, he suffered a fate that befell a lot of men that escaped from the Germans. He was shipped off to the now infamous COLDITZ Prison.   A prison designed to hold prisoners that had escaped multiple times from other POW camps. Colditz was virtually escape proof.  He spent the duration of the war there in Colditz. There is a movie about this prison based on the true story of the many allied prisoners held there.


I became friends with many male and female war veterans 
These women and men are still highly spirited and positive.  One of them, a next door neighbor as a little girl of 8 yrs was being evacuated on a train with other children to the English countryside had to hit the floor of the train car with the others as their train was strafed by German planes twice.


I worked for a time for one of the last surviving BEVEN BOYS. These were young men that spent the entire war in mines in the U.K. mining precious metals for the war effort.
Educate yourself about these people and educate your kids to respect these people.


The point I am trying to make is that these special people won't be alive much longer. Let's give them the respect and kindness and thankfulness they so deserve  while they are still here among us that have flourished and enjoyed an enriched life because of their valiant efforts.

Share

Follow

Subscribe

Comment

I bid you Good Day !

Jeffrey R Hilton