This week was the 75th anniversary of D-Day. As I read the reminiscences of some of the remaining WW2 vets, all over 90 years old now, I wondered what my parents would have said about their own memories. Growing up, I heard a lot about both WW1 and WW2 in a general way, a little about the Boer War (my grandfather fought in that one.) But as neither of my parents left any kind of a memoir, I don't really know what their observations about the wars were.
My father was born in 1911, my mother in 1912. So they were toddlers when WW1 erupted. One of my Campbell grandfather's brothers, Duncan, died at the end of WW1, probably of Spanish flu. Below are the first page of the letter that the nursing sister on the French front wrote about Duncan's death and a photo of Duncan, second from left, in front of the butcher shop he worked at in Dundee.
My dad never saw either of those items. The photo was sent to me by a nephew of Duncan's wife as was a copy of the letter. Neither of my parents were as interested in family history as I am. In fact, my dad never even knew which of his uncles had died in WW1. He thought it was his uncle Tom as he thought he remembered his father crying "Tom's dead, Tom's dead" when he received a letter from Scotland after the war. My father's other two uncles, Sylvester and David also went to France in WW1 as well. In one of Duncan's letters, he refers to Sylvester as a driver and I have found a record for Sylvester with the Royal Engineers. He came through okay. I found a record for David who, although he was living in the U.S., went up to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian army. He was wounded but came back, according to records. I don't know anything more than records.
It's the same for my grandfather Torrance's war service during the Boer War. I always knew that Grandpa (who died when I was 2 and a half) had served in the Boer War because my mother and her cousin had mentioned it. It affected him a great deal I think, everyone remembered him as a very quiet, although gentle, man. But the family had none of his records, no medals, nothing. I found out through my own research that he had actually enlisted in the Lancashire Regiment when he was only 16 (he lied about his age) and was in South Africa when he was 17. What a life he must have led! How I WISH he had written his memoir!
From my own point of view, although I always teared up (still do actually) at descriptions of the bravery of soldiers in both the World Wars, I, like so many of my contemporaries, was appalled at the Vietnam War. I was in university in Canada during many of the college protests and was totally in sympathy with the protesters. Not so my older sister, who felt that since the U.S. government said that the war was necessary, young people should just accept it. She felt differently a decade later when her sons were getting to military enlistment age. At that point she acknowledged that had either Brian or Chris been of draft age during the Vietnam War, she might have taken them back to Canada.
Brian, my older nephew, actually DID enlist in the Marines after university and stayed in for about 10 years, rising to the rank of Major. He only left after a bout with melanoma. He had mixed feelings about the military; he was totally in sympathy with the enlisted men and women but felt that often the higher ups were incompetent.
I think I am too independent, too "international" to ever be totally in favor of armed conflict. I believe that WW1 was a travesty, so many lives sacrificed for imperialism. And WW2 ought never to have happened either--but, having come to such a pass that countries were invaded and peoples being annihilated, I don't know what else could have been done. Diplomacy certainly hadn't worked.
If in the future either of my grandsons (or my granddaughters for that matter) wanted to enlist in the military, I wouldn't jump for joy but I would always support them in their career choice. I would hope, though, that they would think long and hard about it ;)
My father was born in 1911, my mother in 1912. So they were toddlers when WW1 erupted. One of my Campbell grandfather's brothers, Duncan, died at the end of WW1, probably of Spanish flu. Below are the first page of the letter that the nursing sister on the French front wrote about Duncan's death and a photo of Duncan, second from left, in front of the butcher shop he worked at in Dundee.
My dad never saw either of those items. The photo was sent to me by a nephew of Duncan's wife as was a copy of the letter. Neither of my parents were as interested in family history as I am. In fact, my dad never even knew which of his uncles had died in WW1. He thought it was his uncle Tom as he thought he remembered his father crying "Tom's dead, Tom's dead" when he received a letter from Scotland after the war. My father's other two uncles, Sylvester and David also went to France in WW1 as well. In one of Duncan's letters, he refers to Sylvester as a driver and I have found a record for Sylvester with the Royal Engineers. He came through okay. I found a record for David who, although he was living in the U.S., went up to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian army. He was wounded but came back, according to records. I don't know anything more than records.
It's the same for my grandfather Torrance's war service during the Boer War. I always knew that Grandpa (who died when I was 2 and a half) had served in the Boer War because my mother and her cousin had mentioned it. It affected him a great deal I think, everyone remembered him as a very quiet, although gentle, man. But the family had none of his records, no medals, nothing. I found out through my own research that he had actually enlisted in the Lancashire Regiment when he was only 16 (he lied about his age) and was in South Africa when he was 17. What a life he must have led! How I WISH he had written his memoir!
From my own point of view, although I always teared up (still do actually) at descriptions of the bravery of soldiers in both the World Wars, I, like so many of my contemporaries, was appalled at the Vietnam War. I was in university in Canada during many of the college protests and was totally in sympathy with the protesters. Not so my older sister, who felt that since the U.S. government said that the war was necessary, young people should just accept it. She felt differently a decade later when her sons were getting to military enlistment age. At that point she acknowledged that had either Brian or Chris been of draft age during the Vietnam War, she might have taken them back to Canada.
Brian, my older nephew, actually DID enlist in the Marines after university and stayed in for about 10 years, rising to the rank of Major. He only left after a bout with melanoma. He had mixed feelings about the military; he was totally in sympathy with the enlisted men and women but felt that often the higher ups were incompetent.
I think I am too independent, too "international" to ever be totally in favor of armed conflict. I believe that WW1 was a travesty, so many lives sacrificed for imperialism. And WW2 ought never to have happened either--but, having come to such a pass that countries were invaded and peoples being annihilated, I don't know what else could have been done. Diplomacy certainly hadn't worked.
If in the future either of my grandsons (or my granddaughters for that matter) wanted to enlist in the military, I wouldn't jump for joy but I would always support them in their career choice. I would hope, though, that they would think long and hard about it ;)
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