The soldier and the English girl..
My Dad (a Canadian soldier with the Seaforth Highlanders) and my Mum, in Sheffield during the war years, but, before she was my Mum.. that's her on the right side of the photo. No clue which year. . or even why he was in Sheffield at that time..because I think his regiment was in Italy.
We never knew what the exact story was... and, we may have made a simple query or two..but, not much more. Sometimes our questions got answers..sometimes not. We don't know much about them or those years at all.
Dad didn't want to talk much about the war years... and, Mom seemed vague on a lot of it and the rest wasn't much fun to remember. They both did tell us some little funny things or laughable anecdotes on occasion. Like all Brits, she had a great sense of humour even in dire times. Dad...maybe not so much. Who can blame him?
There were hungry miserable years in England and on the fighting front. My Dad could never stomach what he called "Bully Beef" for the rest of his life. It was one of the things they did have to eat..he hated it. He ate it while he was there and never again. Mom could never eat eggs .. she once found an egg after not seeing them for years... broke it open and it was totally rotten... that was it for eggs for her.
Both lost friends, relatives and acquaintances. Mom lived in several houses and was bombed out of several.
The British girls still went dancing ..in blacked out halls hung with heavy curtains.... not a chink of light showing...in case of an air raid.
She said they walked 'home' along tram tracks in the dark and almost got run over by one on a foggy night when they couldn't even hear it coming... it had a little cone of light only shining on the middle of the tracks...
On a day like today I think of what those crappy days and years must have been like for them and for so many.... and, for all those who didn't survive .......
The soldier and the English girl..
My Dad (a Canadian soldier with the Seaforth Highlanders) and my Mum, in Sheffield during the war years, but, before she was my Mum.. that's her on the right side of the photo. No clue which year. . or even why he was in Sheffield at that time..because I think his regiment was in Italy.
We never knew what the exact story was... and, we may have made a simple query or two..but, not much more. Sometimes our questions got answers..sometimes not. We don't know much about them or those years at all.
Dad didn't want to talk much about the war years... and, Mom seemed vague on a lot of it and the rest wasn't much fun to remember. They both did tell us some little funny things or laughable anecdotes on occasion. Like all Brits, she had a great sense of humour even in dire times. Dad...maybe not so much. Who can blame him?
There were hungry miserable years in England and on the fighting front. My Dad could never stomach what he called "Bully Beef" for the rest of his life. It was one of the things they did have to eat..he hated it. He ate it while he was there and never again. Mom could never eat eggs .. she once found an egg after not seeing them for years... broke it open and it was totally rotten... that was it for eggs for her.
Both lost friends, relatives and acquaintances. Mom lived in several houses and was bombed out of several.
The British girls still went dancing ..in blacked out halls hung with heavy curtains.... not a chink of light showing...in case of an air raid.
She said they walked 'home' along tram tracks in the dark and almost got run over by one on a foggy night when they couldn't even hear it coming... it had a little cone of light only shining on the middle of the tracks...
On a day like today I think of what those crappy days and years must have been like for them and for so many.... and, for all those who didn't survive .......