85 years ago tomorrow, Britain was at war

[oldbrownhat]

The Brit. expats will have had relatives who experienced this.

BBC: 'I heard the sirens go and I was all wobbly at the knees': The life-changing day World War Two began

Britain went to war with Hitler's Germany on 3 September 1939. In History revisits people's recollections of that day and looks at the chilling announcements that transformed public life in an instant.

"We weren't afraid, not us youngsters, because it was a new experience for us. As far as the older people, they were very apprehensive about it..."

...Chamberlain was sat down in front of a BBC microphone in the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street, his official residence. BBC newsreader Alvar Lidell was there with him. Looking back 30 years later, he described the scene: "Chamberlain was sitting alone and his demeanour was that of a worn-out, broken man. The red light came on steady. I leaned over his shoulder, put him on the air and then sat down behind him and was alone in the room with him throughout this momentous speech."

 

[Truckman]

Definitely a wakeup moment for Neville Chamberlain...And for the otherwise blind and deaf world at large...Chamberlain recognized his own deficiencies as a leader, and wisely stepped aside in favor of a warrior...Later after victory on the world battlefield, Churchill himself also recognized the needs of his nation for a peacetime leader, and stepped aside while continuing to represent his own electorate......Ben

 

[desi2358]

One of those moments that marks a turning point in history. Must have been extra hard for Chamberlain who had tried to keep things from reaching that point. "Peace in our time" turned out to be just an illusion. It did buy time for Britain to work on building up their military which certainly wasn't prepared for a war at the time of Munich. And a number of military and political leaders knew it too.

 

[Delta Expatriate]

Definitely a wakeup moment for Neville Chamberlain...And for the otherwise blind and deaf world at large...Chamberlain recognized his own deficiencies as a leader, and wisely stepped aside in favor of a warrior...Later after victory on the world battlefield, Churchill himself also recognized the needs of his nation for a peacetime leader, and stepped aside while continuing to represent his own electorate......Ben

I think Churchill (who I admire) did not voluntarily step aside. The Labour party won a large majority, which meant Churchill was out as Prime Minister. He did keep his seat in Parliment, and a few years later, the Conservatives won a majority, and Churchill returned as Prime Minister.

 

[DWalt]

My grandson goes to Winston Churchill High School here in San Antonio, which is about a half mile from our house. The school flag is the Union Jack. I do not know why it was named after him as there is no connection between Churchill and San Antonio that I know of. Some years ago I did some internet research, and could find no indication that there is another U.S. school named after Churchill. Does anyone know of another?

 

[oldbrownhat]

My grandson goes to Winston Churchill High School here in San Antonio, which is about a half mile from our house. The school flag is the Union Jack. I do not know why it was named after him as there is no connection between Churchill and San Antonio that I know of. Some years ago I did some internet research, and could find no indication that there is another U.S. school named after Churchill. Does anyone know of another?

That is odd indeed. Ask your grandson to inquire on your behalf- surely someone at the school would know!

There is of course a UK-US connection with Winnie as his mother was American. And as he said about UK & US English: "Two countried divided by a common language."

 

[SMSgt]

Used to see clips of Churchill on Walter Cronkite's The Twentieth Century program. Always wanted to meet the man.

 

[smoothshooter]

One of those moments that marks a turning point in history. Must have been extra hard for Chamberlain who had tried to keep things from reaching that point. "Peace in our time" turned out to be just an illusion. It did buy time for Britain to work on building up their military which certainly wasn't prepared for a war at the time of Munich. And a number of military and political leaders knew it too.

Chamberlain has always gotten a bit of a bum rap for trying to appease Hitler, at least for a while. He knew Great Britain was woefully unprepared for a war anytime soon. The Germans would have walked all over them.
Churchill got tossed because the British economy was still jacked up from wartime rationing, and the electorate was hard socialist and wanted full government provided benefits, which Churchill was against.
They are still hard socialist and so are slaves to the monster they created so many years ago. Shame.

 

[oldbrownhat]

I feel a bit irreverent about posting this on a thread dealing with such a tragic and momentous event in 20th c. history, but being of British extraction (it was painless- they used anaesthetic) I couldn't help thinking of this brilliant 60's satire by the English comedy group, Beyond the Fringe.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwDMwSQv5KY[/ame]

"Early 60's British satire deconstructing the idolisation of WWII. The 'Beyond the Fringe' comedy revue (Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett) influenced the likes of Monty Python, gave birth to 1960s satire, and inspired the rise of a new style of irreverent comedy"
​

 

[oldbrownhat]

... Always wanted to meet the man.

Reminds me of a quote from The Man himself:

 

[Rudi]

As I see it, Aug. 31, 1939 was the last normal day. Sept 1st WWII started. A momentous struggle that did involve whole world. WWII ended with the dawn of the atomic age.

 

[Dave_n]

Yes, the UK/France declared war on Germany on 19390903 (only way a date will order correctly in a computer before anyone wants to argue!!). However, Poland was invaded on 19390901), and the first U-Boat sinking of a UK passenger liner was just about dusk on 19390903), perhaps even before the crew knew of the war. Dave_n

 

[Alk8944]

My grandson goes to Winston Churchill High School here in San Antonio, which is about a half mile from our house. The school flag is the Union Jack. I do not know why it was named after him as there is no connection between Churchill and San Antonio that I know of. Some years ago I did some internet research, and could find no indication that there is another U.S. school named after Churchill. Does anyone know of another?

If you "Google" schools named after Winston Churchill you will find there are several high schools, colleges and university programs in the U.S. which are named for him. The list contained at least three high schools in different states.

 

[Alk8944]

My grandson goes to Winston Churchill High School here in San Antonio, which is about a half mile from our house. The school flag is the Union Jack. I do not know why it was named after him as there is no connection between Churchill and San Antonio that I know of. Some years ago I did some internet research, and could find no indication that there is another U.S. school named after Churchill. Does anyone know of another?

If you "Google" schools named after Winston Churchill you will find there are several high schools, colleges and university programs in the U.S. which are named for him. The list contained at least four high schools in different states. The list will be found in Wikimedia.

 

[swsig]

There is of course a UK-US connection with Winnie as his mother was American. And as he said about UK & US English: "Two countried divided by a common language."

One of my favorite quotes of Churchill's from his address to Congress in 1941:

"... By the way, I cannot help reflecting that if my father had been American and my mother British instead of the other way around, I might have got here on my own. ..."

 

[Sistema1927]

I was living in London in 1965 when Winston Churchill died. My Dad was assigned to US Army Group UK, and my Mother was English. My grandparents were regular visitors to our house, and they were there during Churchill's funeral. I remember well the tears in my Grandmother's eyes, and the fact that my Grandfather kept dabbing at his eyes while we watched on our (properly licensed) B&W TV.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Chamberlain died of cancer in November, 1940 and did not live to see his name become mud. Stanley Baldwin, whose appeasement policies Chamberlain continued, did.
The irony is that Churchill, who was at best respected for his oratorical
abilities and little else, has been repeated voted the Greatest Briton.
Edward R. Murrow said of Churchill "He mobilized the English Language and sent it into battle."

 

[WR Moore]

I've got a few books on UK military adventures. The Chamberlain family had quite a presence-at least in name, dunno if same actual family-in the UK government and foreign service for quite some time before Neville came along. Don't recall details. Wonder if the tradition of service continued?

 

[ameridaddy]

During the '80's and '90's, we took a series of ten foreign exchange students who each lived with us for about eleven months and went to high school here. In 1993, my wife and I took a one month tour to visit them and their families, starting from Sweden, then south in a big arc through Europe to France.

Shortly before we left Paris for home, we were standing with Maude, the mother of one of our kids, at the wall at the Palais de Chaillot overlooking the Eiffel Tower. She was older than I, lived in Paris during WW2, and while we were standing there, she did some reminiscing about German occupied Paris. Earlier in the week, her parents, who were in The French Resistance, told us some amazing stories and showed us photos of the fighting and liberation of Paris.
While looking at this man-made wonder, Maude told us she remembered thousands of people in the streets on VE day, and saw an airplane fly under the Eiffel Tower. She told us there was a newspaper photographer on the tower mezzanine who snapped a picture for his paper, which appeared the next day.

After I was home and back to work, I ran into a woman I'd worked with off and on again over the years, but I hadn't seen for a while. She asked me where I'd been, and after I rattled off our itinerary ending with Paris, she sighed, "Oh, I've always wanted to see Paris."
I opined that if you liked big cities, Paris was wonderful, but there were many other beautiful cities as well. I asked her "Why Paris?"

She told me she was Polish, that her parents fled Poland when Hitler invaded in 1939, and made their way to England. There, her father joined the Polish Wing of the RAF, fought from the Battle of Britain all the way through the war, and at the end of the war, flew his plane under the Eiffel Tower in celebration. She said he got into big trouble because the newspaper published a picture of his plane taken from the Eiffel Tower mezzanine, with his buzz numbers plainly visible.
I can see why she wanted to see Paris and the Eiffel Tower.
It's a small world, isn't it?

And that's the rest of the story.