Today the word hero has again been used in abundance, this time to mark special people on a special day.
If you weren't aware today, June 6th, is the 70th anniversary of D Day. The day that was to all intense and purposes the beginning of the end of World War II. That last sentence is so easy to write, yet, that so called beginning was an ordeal that few of us can imagine, and now, sadly, even fewer of us can say what it was like to be there.
Those who know me are aware that I am not what you might call a flag waver, most forms of fervent patriotism leave me cold if not a little wary, as everyday normal people suddenly morph into nationalistic Churchillian bulldogs. I think my indifference to this kind of patriotism stems from more recent conflicts and really anything to do with Britain in general where the waving of a flag, preferably really large ones, makes everything better. As the saying goes they hide behind the flag.
Seventy years ago the men, boys, in those boats had no flags to hide behind, once the fronts of the carriers dropped they were exposed, with just their courage and wits to get them to beach.
If they made it...then they had just entered another stage of brutal combat that was to last for months, yet that foothold was so important.
A year later when the fruits of this initial labour was gathered in, these men, young men for they had ceased to be boys, were hailed as heroes but as part of the whole nations relief, and , once the celebrations passed these heroes went back to their homes and families and jobs they were forced to leave from 1939 onwards, because, yes, these were not soldiers, they were engineers, plumbers, electricians, shop keepers, miners, dockers, drivers, they were just like you and me. Listening to some of them speak today was truly humbling and they were so matter of fact, they told it like it was, no flannel, no action man stories, no jingoism, no flag waving, the phrase I heard many times was" I was doing my job"
The understating I heard time and time again was truly remarkable, it was a lesson in true patriotism, a lesson that a great many people in this country could do with learning.
It's time to come out from behind that flag!
