DULCE ET DECORUM EST

[Snoopy]

Mother's Father served in The 2nd Boer War (Driscoll's Scouts) and then joined The 1st King Edward Horse in 1916 serving in France and Italy then back to France (The Somme) until the end of WWI. He then stayed on in Belgium with the regiment until April 1916 helping to police the resettlement of Belgium, repatriation of prisoners etc. During WWII he was too old (59 when it started) but worked in the Southampton Docks as a stevedore and nights on Firewatch duties. Their house was destroyed by bombing. None of them were injured.
Her Two Brothers served in the RAF from 1939 until 1946 (One in India and Burma as a radio op the other in UK Fighter Command then France after D Day)
My Father served during WWII with The Royal Hampshire Regiment (Ended as Sergeant Instructor)
His Brother was in Singapore with the Army when they were overrun by the Japanese and spent 3 years on the Burma Railroad ~ he survived.
I joined the RAF in 1963 and served for 6 years, saw brief active service in Aden.

So many reasons to support the Poppy Appeal. We all survived but lost many friends.

[Pastis]

Mum played croupiers during the war in an Ops. Room up in Scotland just like the one in the pic.

What a coincidence, So did my mother!

RAF West Freugh if memory serves me well (it often doesn't these days  )

I think mine was at RAF Kinloss up on the Moray Firth which would make sense of plotting traffic over the North Sea, but she was also at others in N. Ireland and in the Newcastle area. Either she was following Dad and his Flying Boat training or it was the other way around.

There was one coded phrase which she heard and had to pass on frequently, and never knew what it meant. It's lived on in family leg ends...

"No.42 is now shining"   

[Darwins Selection]

Mum played croupiers during the war in an Ops. Room up in Scotland just like the one in the pic.

What a coincidence, So did my mother!

RAF West Freugh if memory serves me well (it often doesn't these days  )

I think mine was at RAF Kinloss up on the Moray Firth which would make sense of plotting traffic over the North Sea, but she was also at others in N. Ireland and in the Newcastle area. Either she was following Dad and his Flying Boat training or it was the other way around.

There was one coded phrase which she heard and had to pass on frequently, and never knew what it meant. It's lived on in family leg ends...

"No.42 is now shining"   

I think West Freugh was involved with anti-submarine control for the Atlantic convoys. Sadly she is long gone so I can't ask.

[Pastis]

Makes sense being on the West coast. The same here regarding mine's departure, and I don't think records would ever hold or acknowledge info on codes.

What is curious running through this thread is a kind of "Six Degrees of Separation" idea; but not with us, disparate individuals but with our forebears, caught up in a common purpose.

[Barman]

Threads like this make the whole thing worth while... 

[Pastis]

Cheers. In Memoriam 

[Barman]

Lest we forget... 

[Steve]

Indeed