Martin Whincup

"I have to write some letters first" - the final lines uttered by Richard Todd in THE DAM BUSTERS (1955), released #OTD 70 years ago.

Emotive, because it shows the reality Guy Gibson faced and because writing to families bereaved by war was a task Todd knew too...

🧵 1/5 #WW2

That gave the 1955 film, based partly on Gibson's ENEMY COAST AHEAD, an air of authenticity.

Todd wrote about his own war in a 1986 autobiography and talked about it at length to @I_W_M. The account of a man who wrote letters is worth a listen.

🔊 iwm.org.uk/collections/it…
🧵 5/5

By the time Captain Todd was demobilised, he had seen active service in N W Europe and Palestine.

He would claim military experience gave him - and much of the rest of the cast - the perfect grounding for THE DAM BUSTERS. Each knew instinctively how to act in uniform.

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Todd turned down the offer to portray his own actions in THE LONGEST DAY (1962), claiming it would be too embarrassing and protesting, "I didn't do anything special. I was just there... nothing to make a film about."

Instead, he played Maj John Howard on Pegasus Bridge.

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Todd joined the army in 1939 and, after being blown up by the Luftwaffe while at Sandhurst, was commissioned into the KOYLI in 1941.

While Gibson's wartime wings came from the RAF, Todd's came courtesy of @TheParachuteReg, with which he would drop into Normandy on D-Day.

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"I have to write some letters first" - the final lines uttered by Richard Todd in THE DAM BUSTERS (1955), released #OTD 70 years ago.

Emotive, because it shows the reality Guy Gibson faced and because writing to families bereaved by war was a task Todd knew too...

🧵 1/5 #WW2

On 8th May 1945, Winston Churchill broadcast to the nation to announce the end of war in Europe.

To the men of the 1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment listening in Hamburg, the reality of that proclamation was all too clear...

🧵 1/5 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

For the CO, Lt Col Bill Crozier, it was simply a time for reflection.

"I can't help thinking of the awful sights I have seen in Germany and all over Europe and the colossal task now in front of us. It will take a lifetime to get back to normal."

🧵 5/5 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

Amidst this came time for remembrance, thanksgiving and prayer. Prayer for peace and "for those who had given their lives on the journey".

Then, on the evening of 9th May, for those who felt like it, came a time for celebration.

🧵 4/5 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

All of this while supporting a measure of civil administration in the shattered ruins of Hamburg.

It was a grim end to a hard war - "We had witnessed devastation on a large scale in other places, Hamburg was the worst".

🧵 3/5 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

For four days the battalion, which landed in Normandy in June 1944 and fought its way across North West Europe, had been processing German prisoners - 15,000 of them - on top of masses of allied prisoners of war, displaced persons and slave workers.

🧵 2/5 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

On 8th May 1945, Winston Churchill broadcast to the nation to announce the end of war in Europe.

To the men of the 1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment listening in Hamburg, the reality of that proclamation was all too clear...

🧵 1/5 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

Plenty who served during the war - about half of Thatcher's first cabinet had done so, many with distinction (Carrington, Pym and Whitelaw all had MCs, Soames the Croix de Guerre and Joseph had been mentioned in despatches).

Alan Allport has an interesting take on the impact it had on them.

I'm not sure about coming under fire, but I've just shared a thread that may be of interest.

Feeling that "those men and women which served in the forces needed representation in Parliament", Callaghan won a seat in the 1945 General Election.

He'd represent Cardiff South for 42 years and went on to hold all four Great Offices of State.

🧵 6/6 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

By nightfall, their prey had got away.

News of the end of the war in Europe filtered back, and Lieutenant Callaghan and his shipmates marked the occasion in time honoured naval fashion. 👇

🧵 5/6 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

Once commissioned, Callaghan was posted to the East Indides Fleet and spent #VEDay "bombarding the Japanese positions in the Andaman Islands off the coast of Burma and chasing two Japanese destroyers across the Indian Ocean."

🧵 4/6 #VEDay80 #WW2

After a spell in hospital with TB, Callaghan found himself in Whitehall. There, he was involved with a group which toured naval bases lecturing on the dangers of careless talk. It included actors Jon Pertwee and Harold Warrender and director John Paddy Carstairs.

🧵 3/6 #VEDay80

Seeing "a war that ought to be fought," Callaghan followed in his late father's footsteps, joining the Royal Navy as a rating.

On voyages between the north of Scotland and Iceland, he soon discovered how harsh conditions afloat could be 👇

🧵 2/6 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

"Later that evening, a signal came through from the admiral of the fleet ordering, splice the mainbrace."

On #VEDay future Prime Minister, Lt Jim Callaghan was at sea, but like many serving in the Far East, celebrations did not mean his war was over...

🧵 1/6 #VEDay80 #WW2

It probably depends how you define "active combat" - Callaghan saw active service on ships, though acknowledged people in the Blitz were in more danger for most of the time.

As for the difference in US/UK numbers, I suppose that's down to Thatcher (of that generation) serving for nearly 12 years.

"We decided to celebrate by making a V E pattern in the sky."

On #VEDay, future Prime Minister Major Ted Heath turned the guns of his battery skyward. A final act in a long campaign across North West Europe...

🧵 1/7 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

But it was perhaps Heath's views on Europe which were shaped the most by his exposure to war.

As he turned his attention to politics, those experiences would become formative. 👇

🧵 7/7 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

Heath finished the war with a mention in despatches and, in recognition of "initiative, ability and devotion to duty" the MBE.

Denis Healey, a contemporary at Oxford, also saw a man who emerged with a new, "very visible" toughness.

🧵 6/7 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

In January 1945, Heath was given command of a battery and had particular success in the anti-aircraft defence of Antwerp.

On #VEDay, however, his battery's guns were otherwise employed. 👇

🧵 5/7 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

From Normandy 107 HAA Regiment moved across North West Europe.

Heath was later phlegmatic about what he saw - "You see the enemy on the other side and so you bombard them and then later on when you pass over that ground you see dead bodies... that's war."

🧵 4/7 #VEDay #VEDay80

Within a week, the regiment was supporting 6th Airborne Division in a field artillery role.

The change required "considerable re-organisation" and in this, Heath "contributed very successfully to the efficiency of the regiment".

🧵 3/7 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

Commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1941, Heath spent his first three years of service in Britain on anti-aircraft duties.

On 5th July 1944, however, he landed in Normandy as Adjutant of 107 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment.

🧵 2/7 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

"We decided to celebrate by making a V E pattern in the sky."

On #VEDay, future Prime Minister Major Ted Heath turned the guns of his battery skyward. A final act in a long campaign across North West Europe...

🧵 1/7 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

"After we'd had the champagne, all my friends said you'd better give us a tune on the trumpet."

In 1945, #VEDay was greeted with joy on the streets of London. Among the crowds was Lt Humphrey Lyttelton, a man who knew first hand the reality of war...

🧵 1/6 #VEDay80 #WW2