Show Us Your Poppy
- Thread starter Klenchblaize
- Start date
Present, correct and ready to let one ring around the Greensand Ridge at 11:00hrs.A suitable backstop will be ensured.
K
Here is my Pop a few years before he died. This was the first time he had worn his medals, some 60 years after they had arrived in the little brown box.
He told the tale that he and his cannon fodder mates had pulled the doors of the brothel in Tripoli, 2 days before the Guards marched in to officially add Tripoli to their colours. After the Sicily landings they asked for volunteers because so many of the medics had been killed, and he swapped his rifle for a red cross arm band and wicker trunk of bandages...he subsequently did numerous landings all the way up the coast of Italy and then Normandy on D Day.
He spoke very highly of the Wermacht. He and two mates jumped into a sunken lane just outside Caen, just as a German patrol jumped in a few yards further up...both sides let rip and his two mates were killed, the Germans respected the little red cross arm band, he was unscathed. He made himself unpopular treating the wounded irrespective of uniform colour, so maybe a little bit of Karma.
He set great store by the arm band and we dressed his coffin with it at his funeral. The arm band was his only protection from Sicily onwards, and he mentioned that there were a number of times when he had been treating the wounded in full view and range of enemy guns.
A few days after Caen the field hospital he was working in was blown up. He was the only survivor, found two days later, knocked stupid wandering around picking up bandages with his ear drums blown out. He spent the rest of the war and a year or so after helping run a huge POW camp outside Brussels. At his discharge medical he was made up to the grade where no pension was due. He (and his family) suffered from PTSD which was finally acknowledged by the MOD after Desert Storm and he and the few surviving similarly affected mates finally received a small war pension thereafter.
We do not forget his service.
Alan
He told the tale that he and his cannon fodder mates had pulled the doors of the brothel in Tripoli, 2 days before the Guards marched in to officially add Tripoli to their colours. After the Sicily landings they asked for volunteers because so many of the medics had been killed, and he swapped his rifle for a red cross arm band and wicker trunk of bandages...he subsequently did numerous landings all the way up the coast of Italy and then Normandy on D Day.
He spoke very highly of the Wermacht. He and two mates jumped into a sunken lane just outside Caen, just as a German patrol jumped in a few yards further up...both sides let rip and his two mates were killed, the Germans respected the little red cross arm band, he was unscathed. He made himself unpopular treating the wounded irrespective of uniform colour, so maybe a little bit of Karma.
He set great store by the arm band and we dressed his coffin with it at his funeral. The arm band was his only protection from Sicily onwards, and he mentioned that there were a number of times when he had been treating the wounded in full view and range of enemy guns.
A few days after Caen the field hospital he was working in was blown up. He was the only survivor, found two days later, knocked stupid wandering around picking up bandages with his ear drums blown out. He spent the rest of the war and a year or so after helping run a huge POW camp outside Brussels. At his discharge medical he was made up to the grade where no pension was due. He (and his family) suffered from PTSD which was finally acknowledged by the MOD after Desert Storm and he and the few surviving similarly affected mates finally received a small war pension thereafter.
We do not forget his service.
Alan
Last edited:
Bavarianbrit
Well-Known Member
Old and new(ish). Family trench art.
Moving forward and now the day has passed may I respectfully request a little more thought be given to colour-coordination in 2022 please!
Or is this now acceptable Artists Club range attire for the seasonal event in question?
K
Says he with a scary avatar 
WB
WB
A recent trip to Whitby has most certainly a lot to answer for!Says he with a scary avatar
WB
K
K
Yesterday evening, on the corner of the field where we have the village allotments.
bottletopbill
Well-Known Member
Total Respect must be shown forever
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