AIBU to think there is something a bit 'wrong' about the D-Day commemorations

[KittyC4]

I really cannot put my finger on exactly what it is. However, there just seems to be something really wrong about the way the Normandy Landings are being commemorated.

I have utter respect for the veterans and I can share the sense of loss for all the people (military and civilians) who lost their lives on both sides. Yet, the whole public spectacle of the events seems to be at odds with theme of remembrance.

It could be that the context of Brexit, President Trump's visit and the Anglocentric focus of the events is making me interpret the events as a sad reflection of this country's obsession with past 'glories', but am I the only person to feel there is just something wrong about the way this event is being 'remembered'?

I really disagree OP. I've been happily stunned at how much coverage in papers, tv, special shows this has received and really feel it has felt very special. The readings at the main event, particularly the touching letters as read (brilliantly I must say) by Theresa and Macron really showed the incredibly devastating, haunting, emotional side of war- the 16 year old boy writing to his mum as he was about to be executed and the last letter written to his wife and 2 young daughters of the British soldier killed will remain in many of our minds forever.

I am another one who thinks, more than ever, we need to do everything we can to remind people about these wars and be grateful to be free from both the horror of war and the power of tyranny.

Three of my grandparents all fought in the war. I don't think we as a generation will ever understand the horrors of what they all lived through and saw. My one grandfather refused to ever talk about it to anyone, he was a Grenadier Guard.

I am proud to remember what that generation stood for, personally.

Can you imagine how a conscription would look today in our generation.........

Millions of Allied soldiers and civilians all across Europe died in that war, so you could enjoy the freedom to .... complain about the commemoration? Wow. Go you.
(As far away as possible).

OP - I know what you mean but I can't put my finger on it either. I feel the same about 1 minute's silences in their various forms. HaroldSoCalledBluetits makes a good point although she omits the Falklands War which inspired a lot of distasteful jingoism.

We need to raise awareness of right wing extremism more than ever right now, and this week's events have done that Really? With President Trump as guest of honour at these events.

Oh ffs no one fought so that OP could post on Mumsnet. Catch on to yourselves.

Anglocentric, what are you on about. Do you not think that other European countries have memorials, museums, commemorative services relating to their part in the war. You just saw the D Day celebrations because it happened here and you're watching UK television.

Why do you think we remember....why do Shoah memorials and museums exist in Paris and Berlin? Use your nut.

While I was watching it on the TV I mused to DH about what the generation of 18-30s now would be like if faced with that situation...

Oh ffs no one fought so that OP could post on Mumsnet. Catch on to yourselves

You perhaps have little idea what it means to live in a society with no free speech. To give a relevant example, try posting about the recent anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in China ... your post will have been scrubbed from the net. These are not small matters.

My Grandad fought for your freedom to post OP and you've made me very angry

If he really did fight for freedom of speech then surely he'd be disappointed that you get angry when OP respectfully exercises that right.

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it - Evelyn Beatrice Hall 1906

Wow, I have to wonder if any of the posters so quick to jump down OP's throat have ever lived in the USA, because OP, YANBU. Respect and remembrance is one thing, glorification and using the memory of dead soldiers to prop yourself up politically is very real, and very wrong.

It's one of the ways in the US, they like to put the responsibility on the care of veterans off of the government and onto the general population. Our VA hospitals are disgusting, and yet we're supposed to stand at baseball games at parks owned by huge corporations (one team is even owned by Trump's campaign finance manager) and pretend the government actually cares. They don't...

And they didn't 75 years ago, either. My heart breaks for all the lives lost in every war. But don't forget for a second that the people "selling" you remembrance days and the yearly "poppy outrage" is manufactured and meant to keep us in a mindset that never questions the nature of war itself.

I'll probably get nailed to the wall for this, but as the daughter of a veteran and someone who has NO family due to the holocaust (and find the commemorations by countries that openly refused refugees and are becoming less tolerant of others by the day empty at best and maliciously ignorant at worst), I stand by every word.

• and yes, this is all relevant to the UK and the direction it is headed in.

'For your tomorrow, we gave our today'. That is all you need to remember and honour our veterans.

Well I mean without it we’d probably be living under nazi rule or a post nazi shithole along with the rest of Europe. It was an important military victory which shaped the course of human history. While I do think war should be most remembered for its horrors (not least of all to prevent a similar disaster reoccurring) it is also important to remember that a good military is integral to maintaining a semblance of peace. I think so much focus has been placed on the horrors of war that people fail to understand the importance of defence and this is a threat to defence spending and therefore a threat to our security. We should look of the wars with a sense of not only sorry but also deep gratitude. Those who were a part of D-Day did something both terrible and glorious.

The commemorations were beautifully done. I saw the bbc coverage.

Some of the stories of teenagers involved with resistance and young women dropped behind lines to head up new resistance lines...some only 18/19, at breathtaking risk....

In the days of x factor contestants labelled heroes....we need to be reminded of these amazing people who risked so much then, often paying with their lives, so we are free now. ...

And some of those leave voters who want to plunge us back into 1930/40s Europe. ...we should hang our heads in shame

Makes me feel utterly ashamed of being British.

@OP I get where you are coming from. Maybe it is because it is an anniversary year, it makes it feel like there have been 75 years since the last “bad thing” ... and yet, that is not the case, and since then there have been many conflicts with UK involvement, there have been domestic and international crises, and there have been deaths.

I do not want to ever take away from the sacrifice of those who fought, and whose bravery were the start of the turning point of 1944 toward Allied success. It makes me so angry that so many died for such a waste of political ambition.

However, the British Army teaches that “war is politics by another name” (Clausewitz) and there is no reason to think that remembrance does not escape that same inclusion.

And yes, I do think the involvement of President Trump leaves a slightly bitter taste as one of the most divisive leaders in western democracy at the moment.

I think it was the fact that Trump was there OP, but unfortunately he is the president of the United States and in order to keep peace and stop yet another war we have to respect his position, it doesn't mean we have to like him, just respect that he is the president and just hope that he doesn't get in again.

I think its been very moving, and so many veterans have been at pains to remind us that their friends and brothers died, I don't think its been glorifying at all.
We NEED to remember not only their sacrifice but the brutal regimes they were having to fight against.

It is disconcerting that it is taking place against a back-drop of Brexit and Trump - but if anything, it will hopefully stir the resolve of those of us against fascism/ultra-nationalism and who are for EU unity and peace.

tearinmybeer very interesting post thank you.

I have found some of the coverage too celebratory for my taste, I want to here all about it, but without the festival atmosphere.

What is wrong with being anglocentric

Well, for a start, that winning the war, which lately started with the events of D-Day, wasn’t down to the English 🙄

As for the OP I felt that the commemorations were very respectful

*largely

Well, for a start, that winning the war, which lately started with the events of D-Day, wasn’t down to the English 🙄

The British, in actual fact.

Remembering doesn’t glorify war. The fact is that millions of people died across two horrific world wars, WWII wasn’t Britain’s war. We could have held back and let Europe be taken over by the Far Right. Of course, we’d now be living in a country where disabled people/ethnic minorities/LGBT/old/infirm and dissidents would be dead.

I think, those who died at from all age groups should be remembered and respected. A whole generation was wiped out.

‘Lest we forget’

Tearinmybeer. Absolutely how I feel, as did my dad who served six years. Never would wear a poppy.