tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post556207328522878353..comments2023-12-30T17:31:11.883+00:00Comments on The Solitary Walker: Lessons Of The War (6)The Solitary Walkerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-7356351517496885792014-06-07T15:19:18.714+01:002014-06-07T15:19:18.714+01:00Thanks for the correction, Ruth. 'The Snow Goo...Thanks for the correction, Ruth. 'The Snow Goose' was a popular lend in the library where I used to work, but I haven't yet read it myself.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-79407127086423812602014-06-07T15:17:34.681+01:002014-06-07T15:17:34.681+01:00Yes, George, the complete insanity of war. I was g...Yes, George, the complete insanity of war. I was glad the war veterans kept stressing they were not 'heroes'. There's nothing heroic about war, although extreme and dangerous circumstances can bring out acts of courage and bravery. War is an abomination, and should never be glamorised or normalised in any way.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-33052752839707082452014-06-07T15:11:27.691+01:002014-06-07T15:11:27.691+01:00Very sobering, Am. I can't get out of my mind ...Very sobering, Am. I can't get out of my mind how so many ordinary French civilians were caught in the crossfire, bombed and sacrificed in the push across Normandy. Bombs inevitably went astray and hit the wrong targets.<br /><br />The port of Le Havre alone, over the course of the war, was bombed more than a hundred times, resulting in 5000 deaths.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-2810524547969429712014-06-07T12:40:29.850+01:002014-06-07T12:40:29.850+01:00I want to correct my error. "The Snow Goose&q...I want to correct my error. "The Snow Goose" was a short story originally, written by Paul Gallico in 1940, after the battle of Dunkirk (not Normandy).Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-26198677402950462432014-06-07T01:35:37.238+01:002014-06-07T01:35:37.238+01:00A profound poem, one that captures the insanity of...A profound poem, one that captures the insanity of war and the small diversions the heart takes to survive that insanity. This poem is especially poignant for me because I vividly remember the conflicts that coursed through my head and heart in a cold Oklahoma winter many years ago when I, then an eighteen year-old soldier, was being trained to fire those giant American artillery pieces known as "howitzers." How easy it is in these western empires to abandon the "love thy neighbor" teachings of youth and suddenly become agents of death.Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03959953035812596907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-52168709480553716522014-06-07T00:12:59.022+01:002014-06-07T00:12:59.022+01:00Reading Henry Reed's poem and thinking about D...Reading Henry Reed's poem and thinking about D-day is sobering indeed.amhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09212213177713917828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-7861507160429436362014-06-06T20:56:29.912+01:002014-06-06T20:56:29.912+01:00Thanks for this Pat...
... and Dominic, I'm g...Thanks for this Pat...<br /><br />... and Dominic, I'm grateful for your comment. And I'm so grateful to the people who risked, and forfeited, their lives on D-Day. I am anti-war in the extreme, but some things have got to be fought for in the last resort. <br /><br />The swing to the right in the EU elections, and elsewhere, is disturbing. It only seems like yesterday when UKIP was a joke. Yes, and to me it's still a joke — but an ever-growing percentage of the UK population seems to be taking it more and more seriously. Not to mention the upsurge in right-wing parties in France and elsewhere. God help us. As you say, memories can be short.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-67178671542052436632014-06-06T20:16:33.821+01:002014-06-06T20:16:33.821+01:00If we'd been born a few years sooner... I susp...If we'd been born a few years sooner... I suspect I speak for both of us when I say nothing has happened in our lives that could frighten us half so much as taking part in that.<br /><br />I'm grateful. I'm also aware of the irony of the massive swing to right wing populist parties in the EU elections here and elsewhere. How long does it take to forget? 70 years, it seems.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-44031193436662513502014-06-06T15:03:24.498+01:002014-06-06T15:03:24.498+01:00One of my favourite poems Robert - I read it at ou...One of my favourite poems Robert - I read it at our poetry meetings regularly. I love the way the poet lets his mind wander away from the horrors of war and into the countryside.<br /><br />I was 12 on D Day and remember it well incidentally.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-1586754783895037952014-06-06T12:58:22.809+01:002014-06-06T12:58:22.809+01:00Ah, yes, that opening scene of 'Saving Private...Ah, yes, that opening scene of 'Saving Private Ryan'.<br /><br />A lot of good poems came out of WW1, but I can't think of many dealing with WW2 (this one by Henry Reed is exceptional, I think). Though some German writers used poetry as a means of trying to come to terms with the guilt and the horror, and produced some remarkable if sobering poems.<br /><br />The brilliance of Reed's poem, I'd venture, lies in the 'mechanical' language, the irony, the contrasts, the suggestiveness.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-63163740312654067572014-06-06T12:11:36.975+01:002014-06-06T12:11:36.975+01:00I appreciate that you've shared this poem, fro...I appreciate that you've shared this poem, from a soldier's perspective. The pure drudgery of war ... until it isn't.<br /><br />The movie "Saving Private Ryan" provided the images that stay in my mind for this day. But there is another one, quite gentle and beautiful in a different way, "The Snow Goose" with Jenny Agutter and Richard Harris, made for TV back in '71, which simply focused on a relationship, and then ended with a civilian who joined the storming the beach. What an incredible day.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8319797996494487653.post-68549804398078524362014-06-06T07:10:06.689+01:002014-06-06T07:10:06.689+01:00Thanks. That's the first time I enjoyed that p...Thanks. That's the first time I enjoyed that poem. I avoid war poems. Now I reflect too on Van Gogh's almond blossom. It's about Spring.johnthebarmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14255924659739608684noreply@blogger.com