D-Day Duxford press commotion

Thank you for the reply EN830. Good to get back on topic.

Kev, your reply, as many of the others here, was well thought out and put very nicely. I would love to see free entry for all vets but I think the IWM should be given some credit for what they have done.

Again in regards to your post Kev, you wrote “The War Memorials that our drunken and callow youth choose to defile by using them as a toilet name those who made the supreme sacrifice. “. This is very sad and true but I hope that this isn’t a view taken of all young people. Some of us do care and some of us do regard the history and sacrifice that went before us as important. This is precisely why I think the IWM should be applauded for staging this airshow, at least a few people, young people, may go home after the show witht their parents and actually want to know more about what happened at Sword, Juno, Gold, Utah and Omaha on June 6th 1944.

steve

John, just to clarify the free shuttle bus is free from Cambrirdge to Duxford if you use the museum. It is not for use for the general public or for trips into Cambridge.

Personally I would not accept any ones charity, I am 65 done my bit but am quite capable of paying my way, even if it has to come out of the heating allowance given to us old ‘uns by Chancellor Brown.

It does seem odd though that a free shuttle bus service to/fro Cambridge is free from DX, I would have thought a charge would have been made for this.

John , I hope nobody would regard this as charity , I would consider it an honour to help any Veterans attend any commemoration of their service . We owe them a large debt to them and to the others who made the ultimate sacrifice – and not just in WWII .

I was referring to their role in the D-Day landings – the topic of the thread. Or are you saying that just because they’ve served their country since 1944, they should be given free entrance to the D-Day show at Duxford? This isn’t a “Veteren Commemoration Show” we’re talking about here.

To the certain extent yes in honour of their service they should be given concessions, but I was in general replying to your comment “when they’ve done precisely nothing” .

Sorry to read that you consider it charity, this is a gesture I would like to make to commemorate both my father and all of you who fought to maintain a free world.
I too did my bit in the RAF, even though there was no conflict during my time, but I hope I would have shown as much courage as all of you if it had become necessary.

Personally I would not accept any ones charity, I am 65 done my bit but am quite capable of paying my way, even if it has to come out of the heating allowance given to us old ‘uns by Chancellor Brown.

It does seem odd though that a free shuttle bus service to/fro Cambridge is free from DX, I would have thought a charge would have been made for this.

Done

Pappa Lima,
I suggest you e-mail Duxford.
Cheers

My father served in the RAF for the whole war and in his memory I would like to donate a cheque for 80 pounds to enable 10 veterans to get in. Where can I send the cheque to? Please someone send me a PM if appropriate. Hopefully someone could organise it to enable 10 warriors (e.g. with the 1939-45 Star medal) to get in?

They may not have been old enough to take part in Normandy and WW2 however as the UK has in effect taken part in at least one conflict in every decade since 1945 these “veterans” may have done their “bit” in Korea, Aden, Suez, Falklands, Iraq, Kosavo just to name a few.

I was referring to their role in the D-Day landings – the topic of the thread. Or are you saying that just because they’ve served their country since 1944, they should be given free entrance to the D-Day show at Duxford? This isn’t a “Veteren Commemoration Show” we’re talking about here.

Let in all the over-70s? That would put the 71 year olds at roughly 11 years old on the 6th June 1944 – veteran? I think not, yet under the “Over 70s” banner they get in free, on the backs of the achievement of others, when they’ve done precisely nothing.

They may not have been old enough to take part in Normandy and WW2 however as the UK has in effect taken part in at least one conflict in every decade since 1945 these “veterans” may have done their “bit” in Korea, Aden, Suez, Falklands, Iraq, Kosavo just to name a few.

Let in all the over-70s? That would put the 71 year olds at roughly 11 years old on the 6th June 1944 – veteran? I think not, yet under the “Over 70s” banner they get in free, on the backs of the achievement of others, when they’ve done precisely nothing.

They’re asking for just £8 – which goes towards the day (I’ve no doubt the boys and girls down at Duxford would look after them like royalty) plus a portion would go to look after exhibits/aircraft so that there may be something around in another 20 years time for the 80th anniv. of D-Day. Thus it keeps their memory alive – which, at the end of the day, is what we all want. With that in mind, I don’t care how many tight early-70s ex-RAF personnel it offends.

They’re not asking everyone to go, OK, so some struggle for money – ask family, ask friends, ask the Lottery Commission if they really want to go.

Thanks for apologising, EN,
Let’s park the subject.

I do think that some of the viable suggestions made here were passed to DX ‘formally’, they would be looked into and result in something. I have seen that DX is trying hard to get better at what it does. Ashley? AdamK?

While it is true to say we all as a nation owe our lives and freedom to these guys it is also true to say that it has cost the IWM alot of money to set up these facillites for them. At the end of the day the money to pay for it has to come from somewere. The ideal situation would have been to secure sponsorship from a local company or similar at an earlier date. I think it is safe to say that without the income from the airshows Duxford would fail to be a viable place, they dont have a huge pot of cash to draw resources from.

I apologise to those of you who thought my off the cuff tongue in cheek remark was out of order, my reasoning is that our(British) veterans get a poor deal from successive British Gov’ts unlike many of the groups that seem to get funding at the drop of a hat.

It was only a short while ago that a group of pensioners in the South West changed the name of their group to something like The Lesbian Dance Group to gain lottery support.

I am not going to turn this thread into a debate on racism or bigotry it is the wrong forum, I will say that I am neither. However I am big enough to admit that my remark has offended some of you and for that I apologise.

Hi All,

Since I live here in the StatesI can’t comment on the on-going flap over this but I would like to point out that on Monday its Memorial Dat here in the States.

This year will be there special for alot of WWII Vets. the National WWII Memorial will be offically open and the Parks Dept. has invitied all WWII Vets to the opening. Also in the Evening there is a Concert on the Green that is free to ALL VETS. this goes out live on are Public Broadcasting Stations and alot of other Stations pick this up.

Also we have alot of Parades thro-out the Country, I know my home-town as one of the largest in Maine. We are going to have a Four Ship P-3 Orion fly-over doing a Missing Man also what I understand there are going to be some RN/FAA Vets in the Parade this Year. Brunswick was a F4U/TBM training base for the RN/FAA during the WWII.

It is, on the face of it, quite a generous gesture. But it is simply a small part of the debt we all owe.

Forget, the Aces, the V.C.’s, men with more ribbon than chest space to display it. And think about what the debt actually is. From the greatest ace to the humblest erks we owe them. And what we do owe them is the opportunity to live the lives we lead today. We owe them our lives pure and simple. Now, if we have the gall to believe that our lives are not worth a donation of £8, what is it all about? Europe, North Africa, the Far East, all the seas and oceans, even our own fields hold our dead. The War Memorials that our drunken and callow youth choose to defile by using them as a toilet name those who made the supreme sacrifice. If we’re now struggling to Honour the dead, for God’s sake let’s do what we can for those who are still with us.

Andy in Beds is right. Free entry to the over 70’s, let’s all pay a bit of the debt while some of them can appreciate the gesture.

Regards,

kev35

An excellent eloquent post , good to see you back Kev.

Al

It’s in todays Sun newspaper.

You mean ‘comic’.

The exampars of clear, thoughtful reporting.

Or not?

It’s in todays Sun newspaper.

Hi Trumpeter et al,

Couple of points. (I’ve worked in selling things to people inc ticket events, it’s not as easy as you might think.) Bearing in mind how difficult it is to get guys in the entrence boxes to take money / give ticket without any ID etc, it’s just not on. There is NO single ID that shows someone was a veteran of D-Day, except items like campaign medals which those entitled may not have to hand and those not entitled may have bought. See MikeJ’s posts. Likewise, I can’t see veterans claiming the money back after.

Nothing is going to change before June 6th, I’d say, as the IWM can’t move that fast.

We are not living in a fascist world order (wry jokes aside) and any dislike of the status quo should be seen in that light.

EN830’s remarks are (even if intended as a joke) raceist and thus illegal; whatever anyone may feel. This is NOT a subject for debate or discussion here, perhaps the general discussion forum, but NOT here.

Please DO NOT discuss EN830’s remark further here anyone. Thank you.