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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.
I was looking forward to my birthday because Michael was coming. I was not looking forward to my birthday because I wasn’t ready to be old. The last few hours of being 22 were spent having fun with a loved one, accompanied by KFC and a lewd male beauty pageant. The first couple hours of being 23 were not exactly eventful, but I could already call it one of my best birthdays.
Ever since I first developed an understanding of the Second World War and what the Holocaust was, it has fascinated me. There were therefore two places I decided that I must visit in relation to it – Hiroshima, in Japan and Auschwitz, in Poland. In 2005 we got the opportunity to visit Hiroshima and one of the expected results was a realization of what actually happened.
My task for the day is to drag myself a laborious 80 miles south to Dublin. By the end, i’ll be as tired and jet-lagged as someone who’s travelled 6,000. I have no idea when I’m going to go, but I suddenly get the urge at around 4pm. The next bus departs at 4.30, so, we dart through the streets of Belfast in record time, surfing every curb and nearly knocking down pedestrians.
