This weekend, all my friends in the US are gearing up to celebrate Memorial Day weekend. What does this really mean? For many, many of my friends and for me it meant just an extended weekend. I occasionally thought of the veterans in my family that fought in the wars. As I have aged and the US has engaged in conflicts and wars, I have come to have a greater appreciation for the wars and our veterans.
My maternal grandfather was in France during WWII. He was part of the artillery unit and in particular he helped with the big cannons, loading and transporting. My paternal grandfather fought in the pacific area and spent time in the Philippines. My step-fathers dad flew planes in WWII, I at this moment it escapes me where he served, I do remember the father that resided at his funeral saying that he managed to get out of an aircraft that had landed on an aircraft carrier and then fallen into the sea, alive! Wow!
My husband's grandfathers served as well. His maternal grandfather served in the Pacific area as well, he loaded bombs onto planes and even loaded bombs on the Enola Gay. His paternal grandfather served in Italy, he was taken POW and put in a camp. When the camp was liberated by the Soviets, he and another man escaped. It was a good thing that they did as from what I understand the other men were not heard from again.
Here in the UK, we are not having a holiday this weekend. We did have a holiday 7 May. It was a three day weekend and we took the kids to visit Secret Island, a gunpowder mill. It was then that we learned that the official end to World War II in Europe was 7 May, 1945. At 2:41 in the morning 7 May, German commander Alfred Jodl in Reims, France surrendered to General Eisenhower.
Our visit to the Gunpowder Mill was kind of interesting. They were having a big weekend with World War II battle reenactments and a special appearance, a Spitfire flyby. So, here are some pictures to tell you about our experience!
Ok? Well, thanks! I don't think they actually used this sign during the War. If so, I am not quite sure how the allies won, unless they were relying on the fact that not many Germans knew English?
I am not sure what side this canon belonged to, it was between camps. But I took the picture because I remembered my grandfather.
One of the German tanks.
We saw German troops and World War II equipment, British troops and period equipment and American troops and period equipment. We were also treated with a battle reenactment in which the British troops beat the Germans, turned the area over to the Americans who them lost the area back to the Germans and were captured to have the British troops come back and rescue. It was nicely done and I trust it was a factually accurate reenactment. I thought it was nice, especially showing the British troops at their best!
This is a German BMW motorcycle. It took this picture for my dad, Mark who has talked about getting a BMW motorcycle. We thought he might enjoy seeing an older working version of a BMW!
The gunpowder mill in Waltham Abby has been in existence for a long time. They started producing gunpowder in the 17th century. About 100 years later it was bought by the Crown and standards were put in place to make gunpowder with a standard formula. The formula was important because gunpowder before that time could be very unreliable. The picture above shows the three ingredients that were used, salt peter, charcoal and sulfur.
This is a reproduction of a large mill that was used to manufacture the gunpowder.
The mill was bombed during WWII and so it was quickly shut down and operations moved to other areas.
They also had a neat area for the kids. One of the things that it included was the list of things that the children in London should bring to the country when they were evacuated. The picture below shows the list and the packed suitcase.
Here is my youngest, he colored a paper gas mask and my husband is holding it to his head.
My maternal grandfather was in France during WWII. He was part of the artillery unit and in particular he helped with the big cannons, loading and transporting. My paternal grandfather fought in the pacific area and spent time in the Philippines. My step-fathers dad flew planes in WWII, I at this moment it escapes me where he served, I do remember the father that resided at his funeral saying that he managed to get out of an aircraft that had landed on an aircraft carrier and then fallen into the sea, alive! Wow!
My husband's grandfathers served as well. His maternal grandfather served in the Pacific area as well, he loaded bombs onto planes and even loaded bombs on the Enola Gay. His paternal grandfather served in Italy, he was taken POW and put in a camp. When the camp was liberated by the Soviets, he and another man escaped. It was a good thing that they did as from what I understand the other men were not heard from again.
Here in the UK, we are not having a holiday this weekend. We did have a holiday 7 May. It was a three day weekend and we took the kids to visit Secret Island, a gunpowder mill. It was then that we learned that the official end to World War II in Europe was 7 May, 1945. At 2:41 in the morning 7 May, German commander Alfred Jodl in Reims, France surrendered to General Eisenhower.
Our visit to the Gunpowder Mill was kind of interesting. They were having a big weekend with World War II battle reenactments and a special appearance, a Spitfire flyby. So, here are some pictures to tell you about our experience!
Ok? Well, thanks! I don't think they actually used this sign during the War. If so, I am not quite sure how the allies won, unless they were relying on the fact that not many Germans knew English?
I am not sure what side this canon belonged to, it was between camps. But I took the picture because I remembered my grandfather.
One of the German tanks.
We saw German troops and World War II equipment, British troops and period equipment and American troops and period equipment. We were also treated with a battle reenactment in which the British troops beat the Germans, turned the area over to the Americans who them lost the area back to the Germans and were captured to have the British troops come back and rescue. It was nicely done and I trust it was a factually accurate reenactment. I thought it was nice, especially showing the British troops at their best!
This is a German BMW motorcycle. It took this picture for my dad, Mark who has talked about getting a BMW motorcycle. We thought he might enjoy seeing an older working version of a BMW!
The gunpowder mill in Waltham Abby has been in existence for a long time. They started producing gunpowder in the 17th century. About 100 years later it was bought by the Crown and standards were put in place to make gunpowder with a standard formula. The formula was important because gunpowder before that time could be very unreliable. The picture above shows the three ingredients that were used, salt peter, charcoal and sulfur.
This is a reproduction of a large mill that was used to manufacture the gunpowder.
The mill was bombed during WWII and so it was quickly shut down and operations moved to other areas.
They also had a neat area for the kids. One of the things that it included was the list of things that the children in London should bring to the country when they were evacuated. The picture below shows the list and the packed suitcase.
Here is my youngest, he colored a paper gas mask and my husband is holding it to his head.
There was also a station for the kids to learn about rationing. It included scales for the children to measure out things like sugar and coffee. It was really interesting to see how much, or should I say how little the rations were during the war. It was astounding to me, but I don't think so easily understood by the children. I appreciated the attempt to educate them on the matter. I know that it is harder to appreciate what you have if you have never had to live without.
We really enjoyed our visit to the gunpowder mill. The war remembrances were actually a small part of the trip and probably one of the least remembered by the kids. There was a cool science area and a "mad scientist" to boot.
The gunpowder mill provided a different perspective on WWII for us Americans to see.
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