Reflections of a soldier

Roaring warplanes disturb my peaceful sleep one September night in the year
1939. This could be easily called the most dreadful and catastrophic day in the
history of mankind. Joseph wake up screamed my dear mother, the war that we
all tried to avoid has begun Chamberlains attempt to prevent the war arriving at
Britains doorstep had failed.
The world was divided into two camps there was hardly any country that had not
chosen sides or had not been forced to choose a side! Britain France and later
America were the allied powers while Germany Italy and Austria Japan were
called the Axis powers. Britain introduced the conscription which meant that all
men above 17 had to join the war. I was 18 at the timea young strong framer
from north Yorkshire in England. I still remember there was an air of nationalism
and every young man and even women were joining the war.
Well you must think what encouraged us to fight? The answer is in the
Blitz..the terrifying bombardment of our cities by the German war planes. The
screaming children ran helter skelter, there was no place to hide. The Evacuation
began and the children were evacuated to the country side. Gas masks were
worn for safety the war was going from bad to worse. Nearly 2000 men women
and children lost their lives in the first day of the bombing. Buildings that once
stood tall in pride were reduced to rubble burying innocent lives. I was stationed
at the underground train station, where I saw heart-wrenching scenes of children
been taken away in trains to safer places. The parents had no other option if they
wanted to see their children alive! I could not help thinking to myself will they
ever meet again?
My determination to fight the war became even stronger when I heard what our
PM Winston Churchill had to say he said success is not final, failure is not fatal it
is the courage to continue that counts. We all had a dream the dream was to
save our towns and cities from the advancement of Hitlers army and we had the
courage to lay down our lives for the values that we held dear.
It took years of planning to organise the D-day landings on the beaches of
France. When I heard my name Joseph Garret being called out by my captain I
was delighted. He was calling out the names of soldiers chosen to fight in the
beaches of Normandy. It was very important to stop Hitler in his tracks or Britain
would be next! Some 150,000 soldiers from Britain, France, Canada and America
landed in the beaches of Normandy and other French beeches in the dead of the
night. Our aim was a surprise attack on Germany. We came under attack too..
10,000 of our men died. Cries of long live Britain filled the air, blood from our
soldiers turned the water in the beeches scarlet red. With heavy hearts after
burying my friends we carried on, by the end of June we had pushed the
Germans out of Paris and other major cities were taken. This day was a turning
point in the history of WWII.

On 7th May 1945 the Germans surrendered to the Allied. VE day or victory in
Europe day is celebrated on the 8th of May. People danced on the streets, singing
Long live the King the war was finally over in Europe.
I am 94 now and a World War veteran. I look out of my window see the green
fields in Yorkshire, and cant help thinking of the fallen soldiers, my friends, my
brothers, ordinary farmers .who gave their lives so that you can live and enjoy
the freedom. You must never forget them and their sacrificescarry their dream
forward and make the world a beautiful and safe place to live in.