The Horrors of War.

When I was in my teens I, along with my other girl friends, felt that the height of sophistication would be a boyfriend in the armed services. A boyfriend and then (hopefully) a husband in uniform serving our country was the ultimate in glamour.

As I got older I realised the strength and bravery it must take for wives and girlfriends to wave goodbye to their men as they go off to war and risk their lives for their country, possibly for a cause that they don't necessarily agree with. I wouldn't have the inner strength to say goodbye to the man I love knowing he was off to face the most horrific and dangerous experiences imaginable. I also know that when he returned I would not be able to understand what he had been through and would find it very difficult to be a sympathetic audience to his time away.

With all the coverage of the 60th anniversary of VE day the BBC has written this article......

The guns weren't alone in falling silent at the end of World War II. When troops returned from the battlegrounds they often found family members who didn't want to discuss the war. The result could be a difficult, sometimes painful, adjustment for everyone.

All I know is that all present and future generations owe an enormous debt to all those who have fought for freedom and democracy, all those who lost their lives, all those who returned home with shattered lives, all those who fought and returned and all those women who stoically saw their men off to fight.