Uncanny Tales – (097) The Call of Duty – They’ve Got Us Surrounded

 

Being a man of a certain age, I have always been a great admirer of the generation ahead of me and there resoluteness in the face of adversity.

Their resilience and fortitude during the Second World War when ordinary men and women donned the many and various uniforms of the armed forces and stood up to be counted.

In the beginning it was a voluntary system, and you had some level of choice as to what arm of the forces you wanted to go into but once you chose your preferred service there was no guarantee that you would get it and once in you had no control as to what you would end up doing.

Now obviously some roles were more dangerous than others but nonetheless I still think they were very brave.

There wasn’t really a cushy number to be had you were all in the firing line to some degree.

And it wasn’t just those in military uniform who risked their lives.

Police, Firemen, ARP, fire watchers, Observers and the merchant marine were just as brave.

 

If it were me joining up back, then I’m not sure which service I would have preferred.

But whatever service you ended up with or the role within it there were some more hazardous than others.

Some so hazardous that it was like wearing a target along with the uniform.

The peril that some of them placed themselves under was truly astonishing and there are a number who deserve special mention, so I have picked one example from each service and one civilian occupation to illustrate the courage that was commonplace.

 

Paratroopers

 

Finding a candidate from the Army was quite difficult as it is such a broad church.

With many suitable examples to choose from but after some little thought I settled on the paratroopers who I once heard described as the “umbrella danglers”.

In army strategy one of the cardinal sins is to allow your forces to become surrounded or cut off from the main body.

I remember reading about an American soldier from one of their airborne divisions, it was after the Germans had broken through the Allied lines in the heavily forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in Belgium which is perhaps better known as the Battle of the Bulge.

The soldier was reporting to his officer on the situation and said.

“The Germans have us surrounded sir”.

The officer looked directly at the young soldier and replied.

“We’re paratrooper’s son, we’re supposed to be surrounded”.

And that kind of sums them up really.

Uncanny Tales – (096) The Call of Duty – Above Us the Waves

 

Being a man of a certain age, I have always been a great admirer of the generation ahead of me and there resoluteness in the face of adversity.

Their resilience and fortitude during the Second World War when ordinary men and women donned the many and various uniforms of the armed forces and stood up to be counted.

In the beginning it was a voluntary system, and you had some level of choice as to what arm of the forces you wanted to go into but once you chose your preferred service there was no guarantee that you would get it and once in you had no control as to what you would end up doing.

Now obviously some roles were more dangerous than others but nonetheless I still think they were very brave.

There wasn’t really a cushy number to be had you were all in the firing line to some degree.

And it wasn’t just those in military uniform who risked their lives.

Police, Firemen, ARP, fire watchers, Observers and the merchant marine were just as brave.

 

If it were me joining up back, then I’m not sure which service I would have preferred.

But whatever service you ended up with or the role within it there were some more hazardous than others.

Some so hazardous that it was like wearing a target along with the uniform.

The peril that some of them placed themselves under was truly astonishing and there are a number who deserve special mention, so I have picked one example from each service and one civilian occupation to illustrate the courage that was commonplace.

 

Submariners

 

Unlike the other branches my candidate for the Navy was a no brainer there can be no braver section of the Senior Service than the Submariners.

Most Navy men devote all their collective effort to keep their vessel afloat, but the submariners deliberately submerge themselves.

Even sailing in a submerged boat during peacetime was a dangerous occupation.

But in wartime it was necessary to spent prolonged periods under water and for that you have to be a special type of person.

At the dangers were many, Enemy Cruisers spewing depth charges, Submarine hunting aircraft, strong currents, minefields, and submerged hazards.

And should any one of those result in damage to the sub no one was going to come and find you.

Uncanny Tales – (095) The Call of Duty - On A Wing and A Prayer

 

Being a man of a certain age, I have always been a great admirer of the generation ahead of me and there resoluteness in the face of adversity.

Their resilience and fortitude during the Second World War when ordinary men and women donned the many and various uniforms of the armed forces and stood up to be counted.

In the beginning it was a voluntary system, and you had some level of choice as to what arm of the forces you wanted to go into but once you chose your preferred service there was no guarantee that you would get it and once in you had no control as to what you would end up doing.

Now obviously some roles were more dangerous than others but nonetheless I still think they were very brave.

There wasn’t really a cushy number to be had you were all in the firing line to some degree.

And it wasn’t just those in military uniform who risked their lives.

Police, Firemen, ARP, fire watchers, Observers and the merchant marine were just as brave.

 

If it were me joining up back, then I’m not sure which service I would have preferred.

But whatever service you ended up with or the role within it there were some more hazardous than others.

Some so hazardous that it was like wearing a target along with the uniform.

The peril that some of them placed themselves under was truly astonishing and there are a number who deserve special mention, so I have picked one example from each service and one civilian occupation to illustrate the courage that was commonplace.

 

Glider Pilots

 

Finding a candidate from the air force was quite difficult as I have always thought that military pilots in wartime were very brave whether in fighters or bombers, on the attack or in defence and I hold them in the highest esteem.

But my greatest admiration has to be reserved for the glider pilots.

As such you need to be every bit as competent at flying powered aircraft and a bit more.

These pilots had to fly into enemy territory normally at night and land a fully laden aircraft of equipment or soldiers, and land on a precise spot in the dark or at best half-light.

And if you manage to avoid being shot down on route by enemy fighters or blown out of the sky by anti-aircraft fire or crash the glider on impact.

You then stop being a pilot and become a soldier and fight with the men you were carrying.

So, if you were carrying a glider full of Royal Marine Commandos you had to join them to their objective and fight as a Commando, what a daunting prospect.

Uncanny Tales – (094) The Call of Duty - For Those in Peril on the Sea

 

Being a man of a certain age, I have always been a great admirer of the generation ahead of me and there resoluteness in the face of adversity.

Their resilience and fortitude during the Second World War when ordinary men and women donned the many and various uniforms of the armed forces and stood up to be counted.

In the beginning it was a voluntary system, and you had some level of choice as to what arm of the forces you wanted to go into but once you chose your preferred service there was no guarantee that you would get it and once in you had no control as to what you would end up doing.

Now obviously some roles were more dangerous than others but nonetheless I still think they were very brave.

There wasn’t really a cushy number to be had you were all in the firing line to some degree.

And it wasn’t just those in military uniform who risked their lives.

Police, Firemen, ARP, fire watchers, Observers and the merchant marine were just as brave.

 

If it were me joining up back, then I’m not sure which service I would have preferred.

But whatever service you ended up with or the role within it there were some more hazardous than others.

Some so hazardous that it was like wearing a target along with the uniform.

The peril that some of them placed themselves under was truly astonishing and there are a number who deserve special mention, so I have picked one example from each service and one civilian occupation to illustrate the courage that was commonplace.

 

The Merchant Navy

 

I was spoilt for choice in the civilian occupation, the mere fact that you are unarmed and for the most part non-combatants qualify as brave in war time, but I think my candidates are beyond brave.

 

If you joined the Royal Navy in wartime, you could rightly expect to face danger and discomfort no matter what sized vessel you found yourself in.

Battling with enemy warships, risking submarine attack or Dive bombing went with the territory.

In short, they were a highly trained body of men manning state of the art vessels.

I certainly wouldn’t want to diminish the image of the Senior Service and the life of a Sailor was certainly hazardous enough, but my admiration is with the Merchant Seaman.

 

These men were often ineligible to serve in the armed forces either because of age of fitness yet they risked their lives on a regular basis in order to deliver vital materials to our beleaguered island.

The Merchantmen consisted of vessels of every size some as big as a heavily armed Battleship, physically and literary as big a target as a warship, but without the means to defend yourself apart from light antiaircraft defences.

Crossing a vast ocean like the Atlantic in a convoy, carrying vital supplies for the home front in the foulest of conditions at the mercy of the elements and the wolf packs of hunting U-boats.

 

These were brave men indeed who frequently ran the gauntlet on our behalf and when they had a ship sunk beneath them there first thought was to sign on with another ship.

YOU SPEND YOUR LIFE AVOIDING CONFLICT

 

“You spend your life avoiding conflict”

My new therapist has just said

I suppose he has a point, because visiting

War zones fills me with dread

THE RUSSIAN AIRFORCE ARE DROPPING

 

The Russian Airforce are dropping

Amazon bombs on Syria

They are so called as they keep

Being left with a neighbour

THE RUSSIAN AIRFORCE ARE FIRING

 

The Russian Airforce are firing

Amazon missiles at Syria

They are so called as they keep

Being left with a neighbour

OLD SOLDIERS WEARIED WITH AGE

 

Old soldiers wearied with age

Marching with faltering stride

Carry themselves with dignity

And wear the uniform with pride

UNDERNEATH THE SPREADING CHESTNUT TREE

 

Two old, retired generals

In the autumn of their years

One was a French Hussar

The other of the Grenadiers

 

One spoke of conquering Spain

The other one of India

One of conquering the hun

The Frenchman of Canada

 

The two men argued for hours

People thought them bonkers

But it was quite innocent

They were just playing conquers

SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOF TOPS

 

I like Germany

I like the Germans

I have friends there

I worked for a time near Frankfurt

And I visit Berlin often

It’s my favourite city

They are nice people

Friendly and welcoming

They share our hopes

And our aspirations

We are so alike

We have always been alike

Well almost always

There were dark days

When they were seduced by evil

And let themselves down

So what happened?

What infected this nation?

This nation so like ourselves

How did the madness take them?

Why did they become inhuman?

Why did they set a new benchmark?

In their inhumanity

Why did the good people not rise up?

And oppose the evil

Why did they fail to stop it

Were the jews so bad

So unworthy of pity

Too worthless to be considered

For whatever reason it happened

They let it happen

The worst of them profited by it

The best of them turned a blind eye to it

But they were all guilty

And after the war

I think they felt the guilt

But they feel no guilt now

Now they try to hide behind a lie

Pretending it wasn’t really that bad

There were just a few bad men

And they are gone now

The Americans exaggerated everything

There were isolated incidents

No more than that

Let’s speak of it no more

Lest we offend Islam

Well Islam should be offended

As it was the Turks of the Ottoman empire

Who taught their German allies

The meaning of Holocaust

When they annihilated the Armenians

I say let’s speak of it

Let’s never stop speaking of it

And if offence is caused, then so be it

If it prevents it’s like

From ever happening again

FIGHTING TALK

 

“You’re fighting for a just cause”

That is the justification

“You’ll make the world a safer place”

“You’ll protect your nation”

 

These are the politician’s words

Spoken with passion and pride

Spoken away from the line of fire

Spoken from where warmongers hide

 

Men of empty rhetoric

These politicians never see danger

Safe on their leather seats

They never hear shots fired in anger

THE BULLDOG BREED

 

The British in the past

Seemed to have more grit

The Londoners of old

Bombarded in the Blitz

Shook their fists in defiance

Such were the plucky Brits

People alive today

Would never stand for it

They’d shout about human rights

And probably serve a writ

CUT FROM DIFFERENT CLOTH

 

My parents were born between the wars,

And in their day

People were cut from different cloth

A sturdy resilient cloth

A cloth that bound the nation together

They were tougher people

Who lived through tough times

The general strike, the depression

The Second World War

20 years of rationing

But life had greater value

Because its pleasures came hard

And life was more than a measure

Of what could be possessed

The post baby boomers

Roll their eyes at such talk

But our country is weaker

And its people

Less sturdy, less resilient

Today we are a ragged nation

Just a collection of frayed threads

WHATEVER THE OUTCOME OF WAR

 

Whatever the outcome of war

It leaves many people bereft

And doesn’t prove who is right,

But it certainly proves who is left

MY GREAT GRANDFATHER NEVER

 

My Great Grandfather never

Threw anything away in his decade

Which was a shame really

As he was killed by a hand grenade

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – GREEN FOR DANGER (1946)

 

“Green for Danger” is a crime thriller, based on the book by Christianna Brand and Directed by Sidney Gilliat.

The film is set in a rural English hospital during World War II, where a postman Joseph Higgins (Moore Marriott) dies on the operating table after which one of the theatre staff Sister Carter (Wendy Thompson) states publicly that Higgins was murdered and she has proof of who the murderer is, but before she can unmask the killer she is then murdered herself.

So the facetious and enigmatic Scotland Yard Inspector Cockrill (Alastair Sim) arrives to investigate and very soon suspects one of the doctors and nurses who were in the operating theatre during the surgery to be the assassin, but which one?

In this straightforwardly plotted mystery Leo Genn, Henry Edwards, Trevor Howard, Ronald Adam, Judy Campbell, Wendy Thompson, Rosamund John, Sally Gray and Megs Jenkins make up the medical contingent in a little gem from the heyday of British Cinema.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – COTTAGE TO LET (1941)

 

“Cottage to Let” is a wartime comedy thriller, based on the play by Geoffrey Kerr, adapted by Anatole de Grunwald and J.O.C. Orton and Directed by Anthony Asquith.

The story is centred around a Scottish Estate during World War II with a cottage to let where the landowner is also a key British military inventor John Barrington (Leslie Banks), who is working to perfect a bomb sight with his assistant Alan Trently (Michael Wilding).

So it is no surprise that the cottage becomes a focus of attention when,  not only the new tenant Charles Dimble (Alastair Sim), but a London evacuee Ronald (George Cole) and a downed RAF fighter pilot Flt·Lieut. Perry (John Mills), all arrive at the same time, no thanks to the very scatterbrained Mrs. Barrington (Jeanne De Casalis).

The Germans are desperate to get their hands on the new bomb sight or its creator and someone either in the main house or the cottage is a Nazi agent and the only security is a Scotland Yard flatfoot posing as the Butler Evans (Wally Patch).

Other characters crucial to the tale are Mrs. Trimm (Muriel George), Dr. Truscott (Hay Petrie), Mrs. Stokes (Catherine Lacey) and the romantic interest comes from Helen Barrington (Carla Lehmann).

Cottage to Let is a very enjoyable film and should not be missed.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – WENT THE DAY WELL? (1942)

 

“Went the Day Well?” is a World War II thriller, based on the story by Graham Greene and Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti.

The residents of an English village during WWII welcome a platoon of soldiers who are to be billeted with them, but the trusting residents eventually discover that the soldiers are really German paratroopers who proceed to hold the village captive in advance of a planned invasion.

The Germans block all the roads, so no one is allowed in or out, so the villagers must try to smuggle someone out to alert the outside world to the impending invasion.     

 

“Went the Day Well?” is one not to be missed and is very watchable with a large familiar cast that reads as a veritable who’s who of British Cinema in the 1930’s and 40’s including;

Leslie Banks, C.V. France, Valerie Taylor, Marie Lohr, Harry Fowler, Norman Pierce, Frank Lawton, Elizabeth Allan, Thora Hird, Muriel George, Patricia Hayes, Mervyn Johns, Hilda Bayley, Edward Rigby, Johnnie Schofield, Ellis Irving, Philippa Hiatt, Grace Arnold, Basil Sydney, David Farrar and John Slater.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – IN WHICH WE SERVE (1942)

“In Which We Serve” is a World War II drama, written by Noël Coward   and Directed by Noël Coward and David Lean.

It tells the story of a British Naval Destroyer, H.M.S. Torrin, from its construction on the Clyde to its sinking during action in the Mediterranean Sea in World War II, and is told in flashbacks by the survivors as they cling to a life raft.

Among them are the ship's commanding officer Captain E.V. Kinross (Noël Coward), Ordinary Seaman Shorty Blake (John Mills), Chief Petty Officer Walter Hardy (Bernard Miles), Stoker (Richard Attenborough) and Flags (Michael Wilding).

But although the men have served valiantly and heroically in their time aboard the Torrin we also get to see the stoic and determined women behind them, Alix Kinross (Celia Johnson), Freda Lewis (Kay Walsh), Kath Hardy (Joyce Carey) and Maureen (Penelope Dudley Ward).

 

“In Which We Serve” is a shameless story about naval heroism and was based on Lord Mountbatten's wartime experiences and is a compelling and highly rated piece of British cinema history.

ALL-TIME CLASSIC MOVIE FAVOURITES – LOVE STORY (1944)

“Love Story” is a romantic drama Directed by Leslie Arliss based on the short story by J.W. Drawbell.

Concert pianist Lissa Campbell (Margaret Lockwood) learns that she has a serious heart condition after a spate of fainting spells, so she vows to enjoy what time she has left and gives up her music career.

On taking her first holiday for many years she meets Kit Firth (Stewart Granger) in Cornwall, a former pilot on medical leave after being having his sight impaired by an exploding bomb while on active service.

As a former mining engineer he fills his days searching the local mines and locates a rare mineral Britain desperately needs for the war effort, which is of interest to a Government appointee Tom Tanner (Tom Walls) who is staying at the same hotel and has struck up a friendship with Lissa.

Tom sends in a team of miners to begin production but following an explosion, Kit and several others are trapped, but due to his knowledge of the mine workings, he leads the others to safety.

But he has greater challenges ahead as he needs to undergo an operation, that will hopefully save his sight and Lissa must decide if she is to return to music or stay by his side or selflessly allow the relationship between Kit and long term friend Judy Martin (Patricia Roc) to come to fruition.