To those who say that wars should not be fought.....well, sometimes, so sadly, *some* wars DO have to be fought.

As my Dearest Dad once said, 'Sometimes, Liz, some things are so evil, that you cannot walk away.'

IF he and his friends, and all those many millions of others HAD walked away,back in 1939, then this thread would probably not even be here...open discussion not allowed, freedom of thought and speech not permitted...etc..etc..

We would all be living in a very different world.

Thank God that so many men and women decided to walk towards, and not away, from an Evil that would have damned the world for eternity.

War is never wanted, but sometimes, heartbreakingly, it is necessary.


From an earlier thread of mine 1943 'Dear Old Chap...' comes a letter from my Uncle Gray, written during WWII:

I found this the other day, when going through a box of letters of my Dad's.   It's from his twin brother, Uncle Gray, written to his twin, Harry, in 1943 whilst 'somewhere' out in the Middle East...and I thought some may enjoy reading it. Uncle Gray was in the Army and my Dad was a Navigator in the RAF.




"Dear Old Chap,

Thanks for your letter of 2 weeks which arrived several days ago. Forgive me for the delay which was caused through bullshit parades and inspections by Generals etc. We have had a pretty busy time lately and incidentally were the first tanks to get to Sfax as we were the first to reach Tripoli. We passed through Sfax and had a few days of rest, the town was out of bounds immediately afterwards and except for seeing it when passing through, I haven't had an opportunity of walking around. No doubt you have been through it yourself so I won't say anything about it except for the wonderful welcome the inhabitants gave us. We saw some real smiling faces and enthusiastic V signs. What a pleasant relief to get sincere thanks and a welcome after the sour faces in other countries.

Eggs have been literally showered on us and I am expecting an unpleasant aftermath if I continue to eat them on the same scale as I have for the past few days. Our mail has been held up somewhere but the last, received over a week ago, gave good news of all at home, even Ron wrote an Air Mail Letter Card and strafed me heavily for, as he put it, "scathing remarks" in an Airgraph. As a matter of fact, I didn't think that my remarks were out of place or at all scathing, but I have written to him and poured oil on troubled waters. Auntie Ada also sent an Airgraph stating that she had forwarded some more books, which is very sweet of her.

Jerry will soon be out of Africa, thank God, and perhaps we shall have the good fortune to spend a spot of leave together again.

Your feelings for Dad are similar to my own, old lad. I have often thought that if ever I am blessed with children that I shall be even half as good a father as he is. Even that proportion would make me a damned sight better father than most. Curiously enough I want to return to England more for his sake than Connie's and mine, that sounds a funny statement to make, but we have most of our lives to come yet, whereas his is at its 'sunset'. This blasted war has more bitterness for the older folk like Dad, people who have worked and worried damned hard, who deserve quiet, rest and happiness for the rest of their limited days; we younger people can remake our lives in the many years before us, they haven't the time, nor the strength.

Hiding our affections and scumming sentiment is a bloody silly thing to do, we have all been guilty of it, but I believe we are cured now. This war will have been worth fighting for that reason alone.

The post war years will be terribly difficult at first, for everyone, but the Government cannot afford to make the same mistakes as they did after the last war. Unemployment must be avoided at all cost, firms will have to work all out right from the first day of peace to regain our best overseas trade. The H.S.A. will also be forced to recuperate themselves and the hospitals until the Beveridge Plan takes form which may not be for several years, naturally they will require a staff including many new employees who won't require much training and who can get on with the job. Please don't worry, I feel in my bones that things will turn out alright.

Take care of yourself, old chap
All the best
Gray"



Uncle Gray's hope was for a better world.
It is still up to us to make that part happen.