After some lengthy conversations over the holiday period, I would like to know what sparked (if indeed it was sparked rather than seemingly ever present) your interest in WW2? For my part it has lain dormant for over 60 years and was sparked by trying to find out what my Dad might have experienced (totally unfulfilled to date). I came to the subject with an inbuilt prejudice against war and abhorrence that man has wasted his talents designing weapons to maim and kill rather than improve the quality of our existence. I still find much of the subject matter very hard to read but am totally in awe of the breadth and depth of knowledge encountered on this site particularly. I can also now rationalise why I feel such respect and gratitude to those who gave so much (exemplified for me by Ron and a couple of others that I have "met" whilst trying to find out more about Dad). I only wish that I had known this whilst he was still alive so that I might tell him that and ask him some questions.
Oh dear. My mum was talkign to a lady one day who out of the blue announced sh ehad a photo of my mum at home, which surprised us. Turns out she was teasing a little as she actually had a photo of my great grandmother as a young woman, the spitting image of me and mum. After much talking to this lady, it turned out she had married a cousin of my great grandmothers, who's maiden name was Gibson..... Several discussions later she informed us we were related back another generation to a certain Wing Commander. So off we went to a museum in a dam in Derbyshire, found a picture. Almost fainted at the almost identical face to one of my brothers looking back at us from 60+ years ago. THATS when the interest began, researching more into the Dams raids, and Guy in particular, then mum did a HUGE display for the town for the 60th anniversary of the end of the war and the interest has just grown.
Didn't know that Kitty. You're almost famous! My interest was building from about the age of 7 when I built a large model of the Bismarck with my Dad. Well, he built it and I "assisted". We used to watch movies like The Dambusters and Sink the Bismarck! together and I built a few more models. At about the age of 10, I checked a book on the Battle of Britain out of the school library and that was that! The interest in WWII aviation has taken me around the world and I've worked on several exotic projects in big sheds! Now I'm trying to concentrate on the personal side of the air war and am finding it fascinating....and immense.
Hi All, I'm another that had their interest raised as a youngster. Again, it stemmed from the bits and pieces and the photographs around the house from Mum and Dad's time in the services. Subsequently, I've never lost my passion for this period of history. Cheers Owen
Both the world wars interest me. "Biggles" was largely responsible, starting from when I was about ten. Apart from that, war of any kind is the most intense and extreme of human experiences, and the human need for drama causes many of us to be drawn to the subject. Many genuine heroes are there for us to look up to - and that's just the "famous" heroes, never mind the nameless millions. The media reinforces this by constantly using WW2 for its drama, just as it once used the "Wild West". I have to say though, that I like my violence a little removed from my own reality. I rarely watch crime thrillers, or even hospital programmes like "Casualty". Firstly I work in the NHS and see quite enough reality. Secondly I'm only too aware that I or my family could be assaulted in the street, or involved in a car accident, and I don't want to be reminded of that when I'm trying to relax. But I'm very unlikely to be machine-gunned by a Messerschimtt 109, scalped by a Native American, or eaten by a large Alien with oral hygiene problems, so these things turn into entertainment.
My interest started rather strangly in that I used to read alot as a kid. Anything I could get my hands on.My school library was well stocked. However I spent a lot of my childhood in and out of hospital and it had a VAST stock of old war comics. So by the age of ten I could tell the difference between a lot of aircraft! And it grew from there. However I lost interest during uni and only returned to it again 5 or 6 years ago. Having studied sociology and anthropology my interests also encompass the social aspects of the war. And thinking back to my childhood reading I realised that the contributions of many of the colonial and empire people weren't covered. It was good to find on my return that these contributions were being greater exposure.
lets face it you were a geek as a kid :> Andy, Guy's grandfather and my great-great (possibly another great) grandfather were brothers. i get to be the short arse stocky one of the family, just like Guy. *sigh*
As a child I was just fascinated by war, war stories, (true or imagined). What really fired my Interest was first hearing Dad have a nightmare. I was in my late teens, Dad was about 50 - 52. Mother told me what little she knew about what troubled Dad. Took me until my Fathers last few years before he spoke about his experiences, and the story of his last nightmare 2 months before his death. From the first of my Mothers explanations I was hooked on trying to understand what men like my Father had lived through.
Why? I guess my interest has always been there although I cannot pinpoint just why, I was born 15 years after the end of the war but my father never talked to us about his experiences, probably due to the suffering he witnessed after being torpedoed and seeing people die in an over crowded lifeboat before his eyes. He was 20 years old. As CTNana says: " I only wish that I had known this whilst he was still alive so that I might tell him that and ask him some questions". I had so much in common with my father both of us being seamen but I never asked. I will always regret that till the day I die. Regards Hugh
