Comradeship

Discussion in 'Veteran Accounts' started by Joe Brown, Feb 18, 2013.

  1. Joe Brown

    Joe Brown WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Inspired by another thread, Some of the Veterans I have Met, rather than tag on to it thought I should start this thread about two Veterans I know, who as young lieutenants serving as platoon commanders in the same rifle company were wounded whilst fighting in the Normandy bridgehead.

    In the last couple of years the ravages of age have inflicted them both. One suffering a second stoke, affecting his speech, eyesight and now unable to write. He keeps in touch with me by having his son write as he dictates. However, he also had his son drive him to visit his brother officer who a bad fall which kept him in hospital for some six months and now severly restricted to using a zimmer.

    I believe fellow Veterans will agreed this deep bond of comradeship was the finest legacy we inherited from our years of service in the Second World War. These two Veterans bound by the memories of these awful events they had lived through, now in their late eighties still find the call of this indefinable friendship to support each other . . . to be there for a moment or so together, the past unspoken but yet it is what binds them in a comradeship closer than brothers.

    When I was demobbed on the 30th December 1946 after serving from the 1st September 1939 I was full of joy on the journey home to Scotland, it was the fulfilment of a dream never far from my mind during these long seven years three months. In the quiet moments amidst the clamour of where ever your orders took you, there was that deep longing inside you that quickly evoked pictures of home and of the things you used to do before you were swept up in events beyond your control.

    When that dream was fulfilled and I was back to doing the things I wanted to do . . . getting married, having a family, progressing forward with satisfying career . . . during the long years of peacetime no matter how successful and happy life was, I never again experienced to the same degree the specialness of the War-time comradeship. It is why over the years at Regimental and Battalion reunions and the telephone call with War-time mates brought instant warmth of rapport - that 'closeness' - with the comrades that you once lived beside, sharing appaling dangers and relying on each other to survive.

    Joe Brown.
     
  2. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Joe-

    couldn't agree more - a true bond

    Cheers
     
  3. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Joe

    Well put Sir, and little dissention from another elderly gent now resident in Cockfosters.

    If I may add one of the penalties of reaching a certain age ?

    I constantly find myself wishing that I could have discussed certain topics raised on this forum with old comrades who unfortunately are no longer around.

    For example, I wish I had a penny for all the questions on the Royal Artillery that I would have simply have gone to my brother Mick for a definitive answer.

    But as for straightforward comradeship, who could argue with your lovely definition.

    Ron
     
  4. sparky34

    sparky34 Senior Member

    just as long as its remembered that the comradship that you gentlemen have from W.W,2
    also exists by we who followed and fought in the small wars that followed W,W,2 ,
    but knowing of course the unique position you who served in the second world war were in ,
     
  5. Joe Brown

    Joe Brown WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Sparky34.

    Most readily appreciated and well understood.

    It also applied to my Father's generation from the Great War. When I went out with him in the town where we lived and met others he had served with, I saw him in a different light. The warmth of their friendship as they spoke to each other and what was strange to me as a young boy they called my father by his nickname!

    In 1939 I joined the same Battalion that he had served in and felt proud to do so, and like him I am different guy when I meet up with old soldier mates.

    Regards.

    Joe
     
  6. CM3

    CM3 Junior Member

    Very well said. I remember in particular one squadron I served with which will always hold a dear place in my heart. Comrades with nicknames like "Animal", "Turkey", "Flush", "Chicken", and "Pineapple" among others, will always bring joy when they are remembered. I only served during peacetime, but I can only imagine how that bond could be only made stronger in the midst of war.
     
  7. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Agree! There is a special relationship between veterans. I am not sure how that comes about?. Probably the knowledge that we shared the death and destruction of war, and learned our own worth as men. A sort of baptism of fire that only by taking part in the ferocity of war can bestow...Knowing your own worth. That surely is what true comradeship consists of?


    It is also the knowledge that you do not have to prove anything. You know your worth, gained under the very worst that war can inflict.
    Every time I meet other Veterans I find it so easy to form an immediate friendship. Perhaps other share a different view??
     
    ritsonvaljos likes this.
  8. ritsonvaljos

    ritsonvaljos Senior Member

    Agree! There is a special relationship between veterans. I am not sure how that comes about?. Probably the knowledge that we shared the death and destruction of war, and learned our own worth as men. A sort of baptism of fire that only by taking part in the ferocity of war can bestow...Knowing your own worth. That surely is what true comradeship consists of?


    It is also the knowledge that you do not have to prove anything. You know your worth, gained under the very worst that war can inflict.
    Every time I meet other Veterans I find it so easy to form an immediate friendship. Perhaps other share a different view??

    I would say you were spot on with this, Sapper. Having interviewed many WW2 veterans - and known many other service veterans of both World Wars - when talking about the war I seem to remember if there was one term they would all speak of it was "comradeship".

    Further, the following quotation of L/Cpl John Patrick Kenneally VC, 1st Bn. Irish Guards, gives his view on the matter:

    "It is born of mutual suffering, hardships shared, dangers encountered. It is a spiritual love and there is nothing sexual about it. It's entirely masculine, even more than brotherly love, and is called comradeship".

    There are many WW2 veterans who have told me they believed it was the comradeship that helped see them through the hard times of the war.

    With best wishes to you 'Sapper'. Thanks for another interesting and personal insight.
     
  9. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Thank you for your kindness. To illustrate Comradeship. Tom Canning while in England came to my home in Dorset to meet me, from the start it was a meeting of friends. It is a pity that so many vets live far away.
    Hi Tom mate! The saintly one sends her love.
     
  10. Bernard85

    Bernard85 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    good day joe brown.ww2.vet.re; your post comradship.i was never in the trenches,and i am not sorry about that, i have a high regard for those who were,and you have by your posting bought out some verry moving replies.being at sea allso creates friendship.after i was demobbed i kept in touch with some mates and we sailed in mn after demob.allas they have all gone now.but you can still have good memories.thank you for a great post.bernard85,
     
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  11. ritsonvaljos

    ritsonvaljos Senior Member

    good day joe brown.ww2.vet.re; your post comradship.i was never in the trenches,and i am not sorry about that, i have a high regard for those who were,and you have by your posting bought out some verry moving replies.being at sea allso creates friendship.after i was demobbed i kept in touch with some mates and we sailed in mn after demob.allas they have all gone now.but you can still have good memories.thank you for a great post.bernard85,

    Good day Bernard,

    Thanks for your own personal view on the topic of comradeship. After all the years the value of the comradeship you had - and still have - lives on in your memories. It is one of the positive things that should always be remembered.
     
  12. DPas

    DPas Member

    Thanks for sharing. As a young pup I have no experience of my own to share but your posts have brought back fond memories of when I was about on occasions when my late grandfather would meet up with some of his fellow glider pilots - having a tipple and singing a few (sometimes bawdy) songs, which I was far to young to understand the lyrics!

    I later years he lived in a veterans home and there they had an informal bar, where I had the privilege of joining them from time to time. Now the other veterans there were from other divisions and all from very different backgrounds. There I was sitting with a Glider Pilot, a gunner from a Lancaster Bomber, a wireless operator/gunner crew member from a Churchill Tank and others. But I still saw that comradeship there. There was also a lot of friendly banter. Many of these other veterans lived in a different part of the home known as the Clevis and Grandad wrote a short limerick about it in the hospital news letter:

    In the Clevis they’ve got it right
    Tankies, Sailors, RAF – such might
    Who don’t give a thought
    When really they aught
    For the fellow with no engine for his “kite”

    *kite = aircraft

    Anyway thanks for your posts - brought back some great memories of being in good company.
     
  13. sparky34

    sparky34 Senior Member

    although I am a vet myself of one of those small wars after W,W,2 ,and of course I cannot
    be a member of that W,W.2 unique club ,i believe i have shared some of that comradeship
    from some of those who were/are members ,,one was an EX-R,A,F who was a P.O.W
    under the JAPANESE ,we enjoyed a pint or two together at the W,M,C ,we even went fishing together ,,I just wish i could remember all the stories he told me , it would make a great book ,,he as passed on , so i know he would not mind me telling this story ,,
    he was in his 30s when he was captured in JAVA ,,when he was released in late 1945
    he returned home , walked up the street and knocked at the door of the house he had lived in ..a stranger opened the door and asked him what the hell do you want ,,
    it seemed his wife had left and shacked up with another bloke a couple of years earlier ..
    near the end when he was ill he gave me his old army paybook and asked me to keep it
    ... I still have it ...
     
  14. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    I have attended three Chindit Old Comrade dinners over the last 6-7 years, comradeship is perhaps the most noticeable element of these evenings. I have never served, or been part of such a group, not even a boy scout when young. I understand the strength of leadership and team ethic from my years playing sport, but I do feel as though I have missed out on something truly special here.
     
  15. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Comradeship ?

    I went last night to the Annual Reunion of my old club, the C&BG Boys Club.
    http://candbgoldboys.blogspot.co.uk/

    At dinner I sat next to someone who I have known for 78 years and as we spoke the years between just drifted away like magic.

    Just wonderful :)

    Ron
     
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  16. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    As a follow up to the posting above, I have just spotted the latest report on the C&BG's Annual Reunion as covered by the Gentle Author of Spitalfield's Life
    http://spitalfieldslife.com/

    You will need to scroll down to see the report, dated October 4th, which contains some excellent photos by professional photographer Jeremy Freedman.

    Ron
     
  17. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    On Monday night, September 1st 2014 I attended the final club reunion.

    The Gentle Author, of Spitalfields Life fame. http://spitalfieldslife.com/ was there to record the proceedings and photographer Simon Mooney took some brilliantly evocative pictures.

    I particularly liked the couple of snaps one I show below :)

    Ron
     

    Attached Files:

  18. Shiny 9th

    Shiny 9th Member

    The moment I understood the meaning of the bond between soldiers who had been in combat together came in my teens in the 1960s. My father, Burma veteran had lost touch with all his battalion.The rush to get home after the troop ship docked in Southampton in Jan 1946, desire to see my mother,his home,find a job,had priority.Then by chance, we met his friend Cyril Grimes who had spotted him whilst we were both visiting a holiday town,miles from where any of us lived.The shouted surname caused my father to spin round,then the look of joy which spread over his face,i will remember forever.
     
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