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With my home-printed boarding card in one hand and my North Face rucksack in the other, I slouch impatiently against the airside wall of Belfast City Airport. The flight i’m booked on has been called prematurely, and besieging me from every angle as I wait are the nagging cackles of a mid-week hen party intent on tearing up Liverpool. This is what you get for flying Ryanair. The joy.
Normandy is forever defined by its pivotal role in history. Along its coastline, hillsides and through its quaint old towns, the future of Europe was effectively decided. True, other momentous days may have subsequently unfolded far from these shores – but Normandy was host to the critical turning point. Either the allies would push ahead, or they would eventually succumb.
D-Day was the largest combined military operation in history, and has been publicised no end by the British and Americans in propaganda films, movies and documentaries as a result. It involved massive planning, preparations and a campaign of deception that started years in advance, and despite heavy casualties on Omaha beach, overall it was a raging success.
Harry Patch was the last man alive to have fought in the trenches. He died at the age of 111 years, one month, one week and one day. On June 14th 2009 he was still very much alive at the age of 110, 3 days short of his 111th Birthday. So too was Henry Allingham, the oldest veteran at that time; 113 years. Both men would die within a week of each other after our return home.
Education too often loses sight of its primary objective – to promote better understanding of the world around. There are few subject areas in which this oversight can be more damaging than in History. Knowing the raw facts doesn’t automatically equate to having learnt anything. Without comprehension of the mistakes of the pasts – fatal repetition is inevitable.
