Last year I made a memorable on The Endcliffe Park Memorial in Sheffield & the incredible devotion of Tony Foulds. Recently a D-Day veteran who raised more than £25,000 towards the cost of building a national memorial honouring his fallen comrades has become an MBE. Incredibly despite having a key role in the Normandy landings,… Continue reading Cornish D-Day Veteran Harry Billinge (94) gets his MBE & meets the Queen.
Category: WW2
Posts predominantly WW2 related.
War-Time Panic And The British Pet Massacre Of 1939.
There are many things that Britons have been labelled. Napoleon said we were a nation of shopkeepers, he likely meant it as an insult. We’re also famously a nation of gardeners and compared to most others, animal lovers. Perhaps it is that other trait of supporting the underdog as there aren’t many things that are… Continue reading War-Time Panic And The British Pet Massacre Of 1939.
HMT Bedfordshire – The Royal Navy ship sank defending the United States.
I’ve written several posts about American servicemen who died in Britain in WW2, most recently on the The Endcliffe Park Memorial in Sheffield & the incredible devotion of Tony Foulds. A few weeks ago I came across a fascinating sad little bit of history from WW2 regarding some British servicemen who died in American waters, securing… Continue reading HMT Bedfordshire – The Royal Navy ship sank defending the United States.
Remembering a local disaster – The 75th anniversary of the Sandringham Road V1 attack, Watford.
To commemorate the 75th year anniversary of the 37 people killed in Sandringham Road by a German bomb during World War Two, Watford Borough Council is hosting a service of remembrance at North Watford Cemetery for those who died in worst loss of life in Watford during the Blitz. On Sunday 30 July 1944, a… Continue reading Remembering a local disaster – The 75th anniversary of the Sandringham Road V1 attack, Watford.
Winston Churchill style icon? Siren Suits – the precursor to Onesies.
It was only 2 or 3 years ago where much of the world, or at least those perhaps lacking in sartorial elegance, was obsessed with an item of clothing known as a Onesie. Usually made for people who want a comfortable, cosy evening on the sofa or perhaps for those not going out on a… Continue reading Winston Churchill style icon? Siren Suits – the precursor to Onesies.
The Endcliffe Park Memorial in Sheffield & the incredible devotion of Tony Foulds.
It isn’t often that a tale of war has anything like a happy moment but in recent weeks increasing numbers of people have become aware of a terrible accident in 1944, just one of countless up and down the country that happened in those dark years, Tony Foulds, 82, was just eight years old when… Continue reading The Endcliffe Park Memorial in Sheffield & the incredible devotion of Tony Foulds.
The ticking timebomb shipwreck that could damage half of London
Every now and then a newly made discovery of a long-lost shipwreck makes the news with everything from RMS Titanic to the lost ship of Captain Cook and everything in between. There are a few shipwrecks however that are well known, even visible to us today. Out of them all, there can’t be any more… Continue reading The ticking timebomb shipwreck that could damage half of London
London VE Day Photos from 8th May 1945
Today is VE Day and I wasn’t going to post anything in particular but a quick search came across countless incredible photos and so I thought, why not! VE Day is a public holiday in several European countries such as France though incredibly not in the UK as though the 8th May 1945 saw the… Continue reading London VE Day Photos from 8th May 1945
WW2 icons of the RAF
Following on from my RAF100 post the Sopwih Camel and WW1… By 1940 the awesome might of Hitler’s Luftwaffe had been displayed in the lightning blitzkrieg offensive that annexed France in six weeks. In the aftermath the British had managed to rescue more than 300,000 troops from Dunkirk with a hastily cobbled together flotilla during… Continue reading WW2 icons of the RAF
The Battle of Graveney Marsh – The last battle on British soil.
Most history books have Bonny Prince Charlie’s 1746 defeat at Culloden as the final battle to occur in this country. Of course that is just the stock answer, the actual final combat on British soil is the the virtually unheard of Battle of Graveney Marsh in the Kent countryside which took place 194 years… Continue reading The Battle of Graveney Marsh – The last battle on British soil.
Stephen Liddell 