VE Day May 8th 1945 by quietpurplehaze

VE Day May 8th 1945

Just a personal note of remembrance that my dad was living off his wits on this day in Dux, Czechslovakia, having escaped from a column of PoWs being marched away from the camps in Germany. He eventually got home to my mum on May 25th, after a lift with two American PoWs in their lorry to the base in Pilsen from where he was flown home via Reims, France.

This shot of my parents was taken in 1959.

Thanks Penelope Anne @pennystot for the reminder of the date in your shot!
Asweet tribute to your dad -- a lovely and tender collage !
May 8th, 2014  
A lovely tribute.
May 8th, 2014  
A beautiful collage to remember your Dad and his determination to get back to his family
May 8th, 2014  
Oh my gosh what a guy he was. Fantastic, Hazel. I can't even imagine what that would have been like.
May 9th, 2014  
Great glimpse into a moving story.
May 9th, 2014  
Fantastic portrait and moving story.
May 9th, 2014  
Beautiful moving story, let's hope we never see another world war again.
May 9th, 2014  
Sam
WOW what a fabulous story. He was a very good looking man with much inner strength no doubt!
May 9th, 2014  
What a beautiful photo, a very moving story and a wonderful tribute to your Dad.
May 9th, 2014  
A beautiful collage and commemoration of your parents. It is so fortunate that he returned home safely. I always try to remember how much our service men did, how much they gave up to protect the world.
May 9th, 2014  
I love this collage and the remembrance. Wonderful picture of your parents!
May 9th, 2014  
What a beautiful tribute, and a fantastic story behind it. He must have been a very strong person to survive through that.
May 9th, 2014  
Love the flowers on either side of your Mom and Dad. Nice tribute for your Father.
May 9th, 2014  
A well written & pictured tribute, as proud you are of your father & parents, I am certain they would have been equally as proud of you. Apart from courageous he was a handsome devil too !
May 9th, 2014  
Lovely collage, the two outer flower shots, really lift the whole image. Did he keep his diary once he had returned home?
May 9th, 2014  
@claireuk

He wrote it for about 6 months afterwards which was interesting as it showed a part of the transition from PoW back to civilian life. H was unwell for some years and I remember, as a child, going to visit him in the convalescent home after he had an op for a stomach ulcer (the standard treatment in those days.)
May 9th, 2014  
@quietpurplehaze Ah yes I have to say my early memories of Dad were that he always had a bad stomach, he vomited constantly, I remember the worms he had under his skins and once he went to stay in the Liverpool Hospital for tropical diseases, as a child I really did not understand, I just wanted a 'normal' dad.
No one ever really wins a war do they?
May 9th, 2014  
Lovely memories
May 9th, 2014  
@claireuk

p.s. You've sown the seed of an idea in my mind to publish some extracts from the diary after he was home. They are only very short entries.
May 9th, 2014  
@quietpurplehaze Oh do yes, his diaries are so interesting
May 9th, 2014  
@claireuk

I never dreamt of all that I would find fulfilling in 365 project when I started it! Not being able to get my dad's diaries published has been compensated for hugely by being able to share them on here - I'll probably start on the day he got home.
May 9th, 2014  
A beautiful tribute in a well composed collage. What tenacity and heroism our relatives all showed in a terrible time
May 9th, 2014  
A lovely tribute.
May 9th, 2014  
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