Honeymooning where he fought, 1947

[deand]

Thought this is interesting.


http://www.messynessychic.com/2016/07/21/honeymooning-on-the-battlefields-of-wwii/



dean

 

[Falcon_52]

Very interesting, Dean. Thanks for posting.

 

[jack31916]

Indeed very interesting.

From the same source:
http://www.messynessychic.com/2015/...eir-bombers-meet-the-top-gun-heroines-of-ww2/

 

[dujardin]

greatttttttttt


that's a cool link
lot's of other interest for me, old photos, vintage, cars, aso.....

 

[Cobblers161]

A great story with an incredible set of photos from the ever reliable Life.

My guess is he was still suffering from the war, as were many, and perhaps this trip was somewhat cathartic.

It's also interesting that almost 2 years down the line there is still so much war debris around, I guess scrap wasn't so indemand in 1947.

Thanks for posting!

 

[unclegrumpy]

Think about all the live ordnance that must have been scattered about too.

 

[dmar836]

I suppose most locals wanted to forget about it all. Perhaps most had been relocated or thought it was the occupying forces job to remove war debris. I'd guess they were also aware that stuff was Govt property, etc. Maybe they had endured so much that they lived on ignoring as much of that stuff as possible.

 

[Atticus]

Only glanced at the photos, but he appears to be wearing his old M-1943 jacket. On a different note, there was still a fair amount of unprepared war damage when I went to Northern Europe in 1968. No weapons or other debris scattered about...but a surprising number of unrepaired buildings.

AF

 

[Monsoon]

On a different note, there was still a fair amount of unprepared war damage when I went to Northern Europe in 1968. No weapons or other debris scattered about...but a surprising number of unrepaired buildings.

That was Berlin until after the Wall came down. Guys would walk down the street and it would be "building, building, vacant lot, vacant lot, vacant lot, building." When I was there in 2007, a lot of buildings were still damaged somewhat with bullet or shrapnel chips.

 

[Steve Canyon]

Great! Thanks for posting.

 

[Peter Graham]

When I was there in 2007, a lot of buildings were still damaged somewhat with bullet or shrapnel chips.

It was still like that when I was there in July. We walked down streets that were peppered with battle damage. I wasn't hard to imagine what went on there. Dean, thanks for posting that link. Absolutely fascinating

 

[PADDY_M]

Just been watching a TV programme on the fashion house of Christian Dior and his first show in Paris in 47. The streets were still showing abandoned military ordnance!

 

[Smithy]

Just been watching a TV programme on the fashion house of Christian Dior and his first show in Paris in 47. The streets were still showing abandoned military ordnance!

It's amazing how long it took it clear away a lot of the detritus from the war. My father was telling me how he was up in the islands (Solomons and Marshall) in the late 40s/early 50s and there being huge amounts of things lying around. I remember him telling me about one airstrip that the Japanese had been using and there still being Zeros and other aircraft types littered around the edges - albeit in pretty bad nick.

 

[PADDY_M]

My neighbour John did his National Service with the Coldstream Guards in Germany in the early to mid 50s. I remember him telling me how areas like Luneburg Heath were littered with German tanks...APC halftracks...etc
I understand that right into the late 60s there was still stuff remaining where it stopped during WWII.

 

[Smithy]

I find a certain - not quite sure what the word is - historic nostalgia maybe?, even if it is in some sense sad from things like this. Not really in the same league but the side of our place when we lived in Santiago had a line of bullet holes from the coup, and when we lived in Trondheim we were just up from the old Kreigsmarine U-boat pens, where you could see shrapnel damage from attacks and faint "Rauchen verboten" on the wall of one.

5 minutes walk from where we live here is a German bunker which had an 88mm gun emplacement on top to defend the approach into the harbour. It's right beside the play park where I take my kids to play.

 

[seres]

Interesting articles. Thanks for posting!