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From: "Joseph Gregory" <>
Subject: Memories of war
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 10:18:45 -0400


The best "history" is written by honest people involved in the events, especially "Family History". If a family doesn't record its own history it won't be recorded. No massive government grant money will be offered to research the Evans family of Llanelly of the Beynons of Laugharne, at least so far.
We had no choice of which family we were born into, neither did our parents, grandparents and great grandparents as far back to where the human race began. The genes we inherited are important but live experiences are even more important contributors to who you are.
Why do we care about Family History and other relatives care not at all? We share the same genes but something is different and that difference is life experience. Some think it insulting to research our families, we might find that dear old aunt Sophie was illegitimate. So what, do we still care for or remember her less kindly. What has she to do with it anyway. Some might think we're looking for ancestral glory, descended from royalty or a famous person. I've never come across any researcher who thought that way. I certainly have no such illusion.
Our WWII postings are "history" from a completely different point of view, that of children. I think such memories would make a wonderful book.
Only safe and secure children can see deadly serious preparations during a war and laugh at the participants. The "Home Guard" and "Air Wardens" were deadly serious attempts to defend our countries if it came to that. Winston Churchill's admonition to the Home Guard, "You can take one with you" is as serious as it gets. But the children saw the participants as funny.
At first glance it appears to be disrespectful but it is not. It is the way our fore bearers wanted it to be, to protect us from war's horror. No normal parent wants their children to be terrified, so if we laughed at the ill equipped attempts at homeland defense force by elderly neighbors, it meant we were not frightened. What would it have accomplished to live in constant dread? Would that have contributed to the "war effort"? Absolutely not!
I'm sure the children in London, Coventry, Plymouth, Rotterdam, Warsaw, Berlin and Hamburg didn't laugh much.
We never realized the seriousness of the situation and never dreamed that we could have have lost because our parents and grandparents didn't want us to even consider the possibility. So we laughed at the "Air Raid Wardens" and the "Home Guard", even if we listened intently for the sound of droning aircraft engines during "Air Raid Drills".
We made games of war, fought in the fields and woods with sticks and toy guns in our neighborhoods. Nobody was killed and nobody was hurt and the "enemy" was really your friends. Of course we ALWAYS won, just as we always knew our side would win because we were the "Good Guys" and the "Good Guys" ALWAYS win.

Joe Gregory
Still collecting tin cans and paper in
Mt. Top, Penna

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