Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(June 2005)
An ex-Brit gives his views - (without
fear or favor) - of the American Scene
60th
Anniversary of the End of World War Two.
Whilst
in Maryland, on Sunday the 8th of May, 2005, visiting
our daughter and family, I received a reminder from
reader Vincent of UK that it was the 60th anniversary
of the end of the war in Europe, (VE day), and he posed
the question as to whether I remembered where I was on
that particular historic day.
I didn’t have to
wrack my brains very hard for the answer, as I knew exactly
where I was and what I did on that very day.
My reply
to Vincent went something like this, as well as I can
remember, which I may have slightly modified and expanded
a little in order to put the reader in the picture: "Sixty
years ago on the 6th of May 1945, I was transported
from a hospital in Nuremberg, Germany, courtesy of the
American Air force, to Nottingham City Hospital in time
to participate in the VE day celebrations on the 8th
of May 1945. The reason for my transfer from Germany
to the Nottingham  City Hospital was that I had just finished
the best part of a year as a guest of the German Government
on an enforced weight reduction exercise, and was suffering
from a substantial weight loss, malnutrition, and had
a severe case of dysentery. Thirteen days after parachuting
into Normandy, (behind German lines), with members of
the 7th Battalion (L. I.) - 6th Airborne Division - The
Parachute Regiment, (on the night of the 5th/6th of
June 1944), our small group of conquering heroes, six
or seven in number, got ourselves into a predicament
from which there was no means of escape and suffered
the ignominy of being captured by a unit of the German
army".
My story goes on as follows: "On VE day I managed
to evade the Matron, (or was it the staff nurse), of
the hospital and feeling somewhat embarrassed and more
than a little conspicuous by being dressed in Hospital
Blues, I made my way to the renowned pub, "Ye Olde
Trip to Jerusalem".
I must
admit that I was a little intimidated upon entering the establishment but
was soon put at ease by a group of patrons who generously
provided alcoholic beverages. As the afternoon, or was
it evening wore on, (how time flies when you are having
fun), I had begun to shed my prisoner of war inhibitions and joined them
in their celebrations. To the best of my recollections
it was a less than sober individual who exited the pub
a number of hours later, and even though I was somewhat
lost for words I believe that I thanked the patrons profusely
for the hospitality given to this very bewildered young
soldier. I assume that I was transported back to the
hospital by people unknown and poured into my hospital
bed by the ward night nurse "Ginger", who
I remember with fondness to this very day".
Picture courtesy of Karen,
(A representative of Ye Olde
Trip to Jerusalem pub in Nottingham, England
Whilst writing the e-mail reply I was
overcome with shame that I had never ever sent letters
of thanks to the staff of Nottingham City Hospital, and
the patrons of, "Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem" pub,
and so I asked Vincent if he would be so kind as to send
copies of my belated thanks to both parties, which he
so loyally did. Since then I have received e-mail
replies from "Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem" pub
and also from the editorial staff of the Nottingham Evening
Post, which I hope to elaborate upon later.
In comparison to the rest of the civilised world,
there was little or no mention of the 60th anniversary
of VE Day, (Victory in Europe), celebrations in America.
Americans in general only remember history if it effects America - and in
this case it certainly did effect the families of the great number of American
soldiers who died fighting in Europe against Nazi tyranny and oppression,
and therefore deserve full recognition.
President Bush was travelling abroad and from his initial stop in the Netherlands,
where he laid a wreath at the American Cemetery and Memorial in the village
of Margraten, outside Maastricht, (which holds the remains of more than 8,000
US war dead), he proceeded to the Baltic state of Latvia to meet with the Latvian
President and dignitaries of Lithuania and Estonia before departing for Moscow.
 In
Moscow he met with President Putin in order to be present at the Russian celebrations
of the end of WW2 (*),
but was accused by some members of the press of trying to stir up anti-Russian
feelings and political unrest in the Baltic and Eastern European States that
he visited by his crusade to try to introduce American type democracy into
those regions.
It has been reported that American sponsored groups have has
been involved in supporting breakaway groups in Chechnya and the Ukraine. Can
America now be accused of trying to force American democracy upon the world
by employing similar type tactics to those employed by the Soviet Union when
it tried to establish worldwide communism?
Wonder how many Americans realise that the United States
has an airbase and military troops stationed in Uzbekistan
on the Afghan border?
The only American VE Day celebrations that I remember
reading about and seeing on American TV were at the World
War Two Memorial in downtown Washington D.C. which were
presided over by the distinguished World War Two Veteran
Bob Dole.
 Great Britain, like most of Europe, celebrated
the 60th anniversary with respect and dignity. Prince
Charles laid a wreath at the World War Two Memorial in
Whitehall in front of a crowd of civilians and WW2 veterans.
In retrospect, "Let us not forget", that
besides the 245,000 British servicemen who were killed
during WW2 there were also 60,000 British civilians who
died as well, which included 30,000 in the city of London
alone.
(*) Background information: Germany invaded Russia in WW2
on the 22nd of June 1941 in operation “Barbarossa”,
(named after a German Emperor), on the same day as Napoleon
invaded Russia 129 years earlier in 1812. Just to give
the reader an idea of the brutality of past wars, 20
Million, (Yes 20 Million), Soviet citizens died as a
result of Operation Barbarrosa. I don’t have the
figures to hand as to the German casualties but I do
know that countless German prisoners suffered many, many
years of extreme hardships.
Thought for today:
 Probably one of
the worst things that ever happened to many of the people
of the USSR was the collapse in 1991 of the Russian communist
state under Gorbachev’s
perestroika. There was great rejoicing in the United
States at the fall of Russian communism - but the rejoicing
became a little more subdued when the American establishment
finally recognised that instead of one nuclear country
they had to deal with, there were now a host of smaller
countries who had split off from mother Russia and had
nuclear capabilities which they could possibly sell off
to the highest bidders.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents of these
newsletters. Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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