To be gobsmacked that people got through WW2

[utterlybutterly8]

What we're going through now is so, so tough, but it's nothing compared to the hardship and suffering that people endured during WW2. How the hell did people from that generation cope for six whole years and come out the other side? I'm struggling to cope already and like I say, what we're facing now is a drop in the ocean compared to what they went through. I'm genuinely in awe of our parents/grandparents generation after this.

How the hell did people from that generation cope for six whole years and come out the other side?

Not everybody did cope in the stoic way that tends to be imagined. 'War nerves' were very common. It's unbelievable nowadays but some doctors advised people to take up smoking as a cure for war nerves - that was how my grandma started.

The government had more control over people because of the limited channels of information. Radio, cinema and newspapers were where people got their information - although of course it was possible for some to tune into foreign radio stations. Rumours were limited by the reach of word of mouth. People were generally more used to doing what they were told.

How the hell did people from that generation cope for six whole years and come out the other side?

More of a question might be how did they then put up with rationing for 9 years after it finished ?

@Chersfrozenface just to gently point out that a few years after WW2 there was a massive epidemic of influenza which in some parts of the country killed more than Spanish flu did, but yes, your right it wasn’t called ‘Spanish flu’, that was WW1.

So, for clarity, after the country in WW2 had been bombed, threatened with invasion and drained of many of its young men, who would either die, or return mutilated, or shell-shocked, and people were weak from rationing, the was an influzena epidemic which killed more than the current one will. But it wasn’t called Spanish flu.

More of a question might be how did they then put up with rationing for 9 years after it finished ?

And for the first year or two after the war ended, rations got less in some cases than during the war itself.

Several elderly people standing in the 20 plus deep queue to be let a few at a time into the local butchers this morning, in the sleet, saying they'd stood as toddlers with their mothers in queues like this with ration books during WW2. On the other hand, everyone with a ration book knew that while they wouldn't get much, they would definitely get it, whereas currently it's first come first served and shelves being stripped bare.

I don't believe that every single person went about the war effort with heroic stoicism and community minded spirit

You're right, not everyone did.

I recently worked on a project with a group of elderly people who had been child evacuees.

The tales of physical and sexual abuse made a few of them break down and cry.

My DGM refused to allow my DM (and siblings) to be evacuated, due to the stories about what went on. It wasn't all "Carries War" (although I couldn't recommend the book enough ...).

My DM recalls seeing doodlebugs towards the end of the war. Used to play a form of "pooh sticks" about which would fall first.

It's worth noting as well that even before WW2 people were used to queuing for their food and having it handed to them by someone behind a counter - from a much, much smaller range of things than we have today. We have all grown used to being able to wander round a supermarket putting whatever we like into the trolley as long as we can afford it - that concept would have been alien to people in the 1940s. Things being unavailable or only available in limited quantities would have been something they'd have encountered before, albeit to a far milder level than came about in rationing.

I think another big difference is/was communication and social circle were so different. No internet, no email, very few telephones. Very few coffee shops or cafes and pubs were usually the preserve of men. Just the Radio to listen to (and that had been tasked with lifting the mood of the nation).

At a push, urbanites would have access to a newspaper in the morning and possibly an evening one. Very few would be travelling more than a mile or two a day. Most women were stuck at home with few mod cons to help with housework and laundry or stuck in a factory helping with the war effort. Most young fit men were away, fighting, just leaving a lot of older men who likely grew up or fought in WW1.

The vicar or priest tended to be at the heart of everybody's community and no doubt they were tasked with comforting the worriers.

I think another big difference is/was communication and social circle were so different.

That's a good point - with social media and 24-hour rolling news coverage, it's very easy to whip up widespread panic and hysteria within minutes. Although I'm sure people in WW2 must have felt very panicked during bombing raids and receiving news of their loved ones who were fighting abroad. What an amazing generation.

I suppose that to a certain degree they were more resilient. Today we take it for granted that we’ll all live to at least 80 (assuming we don’t do something stupid like smoke or overeat) and we’ll always have food. When you don’t have the expectation, as you wouldnt if you were old enough to understand what was going on at that time, it’s easier to deal with things going wrong. Obviously there’s also a cultural different between British middle class people and the rest of us. In terms of the panic over minor things like going bankrupt or not having loo roll.

Can you imagine a ration book now? People would mug you for it !
It's that bad.

During the war people weren’t frightened to go to the shop for food. They weren’t prevented from seeing elderly family members. Children went to school and life continued as much as it could. This is a whole different ball game. We’re confined to the house and I don’t even dare take my child to play with a friend in case we catch CV and die.

@AvonBarksdale99 very interesting. Do you have a reference for that? It's just that in 1945 in the official figures (collected from the 126 great towns in England and Wales) 693 deaths from influenza were recorded in the first quarter of the year (the usual flu season) and in 1948 only 280 deaths from influenza were recorded in the first quarter. There was, however, an influenza epidemic in England and Wales in 1951.

Petiolaris What are you talking about, the co op was bombed and my great grandmother ran down the street.... knowing her daughter and grandchild had been going to the shops. Of course she was frightened that something had happened

The Germans didn’t just bomb London at night you know

They're different kinds of war. I don't think you can really compare the two situations.

Not everyone coped, my gran had post natal psychosis and tried to kill my dad after the birth, my grandad was away fighting and when he came back he suffered from PTSD until his death, he didn’t go outside at all for the last 6 years of his life. My DH1’s grand parents were both in prison in London for black marketeering and their kids were in a children’s home. It wasn’t all the ‘Blitz spirit!’ All the plans in place now for civil contingency etc were conceived during and after WW2 to try and make sure people didn’t suffer that badly again.

Many people were traumatised after the war, OP, but it just wasn't really talked about. People just pretended everything was OK, but it really wasn't.

Yes - my grandad had PTSD for a very long time after WW2. Periodically he would just go to bed for weeks. My granny did her best to carry on. He wouldn't talk about his war experiences for 40+ years.

Not everybody did cope in the stoic way that tends to be imagined

This. Rose coloured retro-spectacles. There will have been many a breakdown, we just don't talk about them now. Some people even refuse(d) to ever talk about the war once it was over.

@Whitney168 makes an excellent point.
It's really not comparable.
People were much more sheltered back then as well. There was no 24/7 news stations, things were leaked out bit by bit.
My grandfather didn't even know the Holocaust had happened until 1950.

People need to stop comparing, it does no one any good.

People were horrendously affected by World War Two. Do a little bit of reading OP.

It suited governments of the time to play up the “Blitz” spirit etc but it was fucking tough. And a lot of people suffered terrible physical and mental consequences.

We would do better to acknowledge that and not minimise their experiences.

You cannot compare war to this. We are sitting in our homes self isolating with food (maybe you couldn't get your pasta but I'm sure everyone has something to eat) and without the fear of being KILLED and our children being blown to pieces.

You aren’t really going through it yet. Wait for the lock down and when they stop treating the elderly.

We have it so much easier. Safe, warm, comfortable homes with hot water, clothes, toys, medicine, food, telephones, freezers, washing machines, internet, fresh drinking water...So much more than they ever had. They were incredible.

It is not comparable. They are both terrible in their own way. And they will affect different people in different ways.

If you want more recent examples, go ask a war refugee.

When my DGM was in the last depths of her dementia in 1991, her first question to my aunt visiting her in hospital was "Did you get through the bombs OK ?". Every time.