tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post452334548085021090..comments2024-03-16T17:16:01.433-07:00Comments on Tom Stephenson: Home GuardUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-49312216576914493112017-03-18T05:04:26.097-07:002017-03-18T05:04:26.097-07:00We are so lucky to have avoided all of that - I me...We are so lucky to have avoided all of that - I mean us British. We were not conscripted for Vietnam either. We would have been occupied without America and Russia's involvement.Tom Stephensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05979590950587415840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-69940541638375269292017-03-17T17:47:52.357-07:002017-03-17T17:47:52.357-07:00My uncle was also a tail gunner, but in the U.S. A...My uncle was also a tail gunner, but in the U.S. Airforce. His plane was shot down over the Black Forest in WWII, and he survived as well. Alone, he tried to disguise himself as an old woman to get back to his unit, but was discovered by the Germans. He spent the rest of the war in a Stalag, starved and abused. By the time the war ended and he was released, he was a broken man. He would never talk about his experiences. He died a pauper's death, alone and derelict. What a terrible thing, that war. I always enjoy your posts. I found this one particularly interesting.<br />Colettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13929646037752189809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-5896781974073340422017-03-17T17:04:59.110-07:002017-03-17T17:04:59.110-07:00Ha ha!Ha ha!Tom Stephensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05979590950587415840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-30747763672613114262017-03-17T13:39:38.060-07:002017-03-17T13:39:38.060-07:00And they cleaned the blackboard.And they cleaned the blackboard.Rachel Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16053924416805878169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-1110772750910732012017-03-17T13:23:49.715-07:002017-03-17T13:23:49.715-07:00There is a story about a Beuys exhibition which I ...There is a story about a Beuys exhibition which I love.<br /><br />In London, a group of cleaners arrived at the West End gallery where they found a pile of rancid lard stacked up in a corner, so they binned it before the gallery opened at around 10. It was the Beuys installation...Tom Stephensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05979590950587415840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-6342564468775134192017-03-17T13:20:46.039-07:002017-03-17T13:20:46.039-07:00Yes, we had food problems, but nothing like the pr...Yes, we had food problems, but nothing like the problems of those in the Pacific war.Tom Stephensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05979590950587415840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-27619585288488336432017-03-17T13:19:09.690-07:002017-03-17T13:19:09.690-07:00There were many Australians, New Zealanders, West ...There were many Australians, New Zealanders, West Indians, Indians and -eventuallt - Americans involved in this war as well, of course. As far as Hiter goes, scum always rises to the surface in times of hardship and blame.Tom Stephensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05979590950587415840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-34789166464180160442017-03-17T11:52:08.864-07:002017-03-17T11:52:08.864-07:00Your father's story, and the photograph, remi...Your father's story, and the photograph, remind me of Joseph Beuys who was a rear gunner in the German Army and survived a similar crash. This framed the story of his life and his art for long after - the lard and fur and the local people who found him who saved him. (Many people did not believe that he could survive such a crash and regarded the whole story as made up. I had always believed it and the lard and fur (being a lard eater and happy to acknowledge its uses other than just eating) I wrote my BA thesis on him so am not making up I know about this from Google. Rachel Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16053924416805878169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-8047536781105136652017-03-17T10:06:14.782-07:002017-03-17T10:06:14.782-07:00You all over there had the civilian "involvem...You all over there had the civilian "involvement" brunt of that war. I remember ration books, and my grandmother turning oleomargarine yellow by creaming in a little packet of orange power. "It's the war, dear," she explained. Joanne Noragonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16601010208310707750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-53589311527433793092017-03-17T08:33:47.501-07:002017-03-17T08:33:47.501-07:00Your father was very lucky. Amazing story. What ...Your father was very lucky. Amazing story. What a terrible war for England and Europe and all of those brave men and women who fought. I wonder how they ever let Hitler go so far, then think of Trump.donna bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13507579686738843451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-30892034089370501222017-03-17T08:32:01.024-07:002017-03-17T08:32:01.024-07:00That is very good information, Heron, thank you. I...That is very good information, Heron, thank you. I am learning more about this place by the day.Tom Stephensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05979590950587415840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-37469733177834683232017-03-17T08:11:14.313-07:002017-03-17T08:11:14.313-07:00Going off at a tangent; The fort on Brean Down was...Going off at a tangent; The fort on Brean Down was depicted as a temple by Dion Fortune in her book The Sea Priestess. Useless information I know but my fingers ran away with me...A Heron's Viewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06563706152609630696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-34253470640385511212017-03-17T07:48:48.342-07:002017-03-17T07:48:48.342-07:00My brother and sisters were evacuated to Clevedon,...My brother and sisters were evacuated to Clevedon, Somerset from East London - not far from here.Tom Stephensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05979590950587415840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-85618105390910186142017-03-17T07:20:20.707-07:002017-03-17T07:20:20.707-07:00I was born in '46, so never had to fight in a ...I was born in '46, so never had to fight in a war, or do National Service (although I have had military training). I remember our Anderson shelter, plenty of pillboxes, and a strange S shaped underground something-or-other at the bottom of our garden.Cro Magnonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06840670227576695352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-16309842059155063872017-03-17T06:27:29.085-07:002017-03-17T06:27:29.085-07:00There is a listening station somewhere quite close...There is a listening station somewhere quite close to you but on the South coast. It is a massive arc of concrete wall which had microphones attached to the middle. I am told that if you stand in the right place, you can hear the traffic in France.Tom Stephensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05979590950587415840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2505385214324438018.post-5049453284323289102017-03-17T06:16:19.358-07:002017-03-17T06:16:19.358-07:00Norfolk has pillboxes all over the place, not just...Norfolk has pillboxes all over the place, not just on the coast. When we were kids my father would point them out to us. The ones up on the east Norfolk coast always looked particularly eerie to me as a child because there were few other things around, just windswept beaches and dunes, a few cattle and a pillbox. Our generation is the one to remember the bomb sites and gaps in the houses and the gas masks and the ration books found in the drawer. We cleared them all out a few years ago. My father was in the Home Guard. He saw one series of Dad's Army and declared it to be exactly like it was.Rachel Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16053924416805878169noreply@blogger.com