What started you off?

(Sentimentality alert)

Both my Dad and my Uncle were injured during WW II (my Dad lost a finger, my Uncle’s forehead and upper eye-socket was severely smashed), so when you’re four, five years old, you start asking how that happened.

Later (8 to 10 years) my friends and I had three preferable games: playing a war version of Cowboy and Indians (I remember carrying a plastic M-16), and battles in the sandbox: Two groups of us boys built huuuuge fortifications in each corner of the sandbox including hidden bunkers, stone cellars, turrets, wooden bridges etc, manned with a equal number of entrenched Airfix 1:32 soldiers.

The build-up took almost 4 to 6 hours of work for up to four of us boys in each group, so we went up early and could play it only during the long sunshine summer holiday season, and with changing guards if our mothers were calling each of us home to lunch at noon (I remember the puzzled face of my Mom as I explained her with full seriousness my today’s “time corridor” for lunch being 11:30 to 11:50).

At a fixed time (usually late afternoon), built-up was declared finished and the battle started: In rotational turns, each of us threw (equally sized) stones from an exactly measured distance into the “enemy” fortification. After each salvo it was decided if an entrenched Airfix soldier was alive (still standing) or dead (lying). Already lying soldier model types (MG-gunner etc.) were treated differently, hitting the enemy Leading Officer was worth 5 or ten “normal” soldiers. Additionally about one billion other “rules” were valid, causing big discussions way into evening, until finally the first mothers showed up to drag the youngsters home (no need to mention that we all deliberately missed dinner time, and have to expect a few problems coming home hours too late). In this cases, "Ceasefire" was declared, every side dug out her “surviving” soldiers, the side with most surviving won.

I guess children playing today in this sandbox will still find some 1:32 Airfix soldiers who went MIA 27 years ago.

Well, one thing leads to another, and now I’m a kind of “moderate WW II weirdo”, but if I could turn back time I would most probably turn it back to those summer days when I was nine years old.

Cheers,

 

Andy--you had it lucky.

My frineds and I used to buy bags full of generic toy soldiers and nail them standing--on a wooden fence in my dads backyord.

We used to proceed to shoot their heads off first--then arms--weapons and the legs. We used BB-guns.

Neat the time when one could buy fireworks for July 4th New Years etc--we would simply have them all over the ground and toss firecrackers in their midst.

My best friend and nextdoor neighbor--had cool box set of soldiers which were American and German soldiers. You could only buy this set from Sears Department Stores. It was called: Battleground and at that time--cost a whopping $30.00 for the box set. Time period was about 28 years ago.

We used the family's pool-table as the battlefield and set up everything on it. We then used small rubber balls or marbles to destroy the "enemy."

Once in a great while--we set everything up on the cement driveway in the back yard--and used the 1/6th windup Evil Kenevil (SP?) on motorcycle--and set it loose on the soldiers and fortifications. Evil always won.

 

We went on a holiday to Normanië and we visited the beaches where the American/Brittish/Canadians/French/... landed on D-Day.

That's when my interest began.

 

I started off on aircraft, my Father was a huge aircraft fan and so naturally when I was young I went to airshows and watched the Spitfire, Hurricane, P47 Thunderbolt and the other flying legends, how could I not be captivated? Soon I had gone through all my fathers aircraft books and could ID just about every WW2 fighter or bomber by sight. Then I got interested in tanks and so on. At this point a friend of my grandmothers came to stay, she had been stationed at bletchley park during the war and so we went to visit the famous house with her. During this visit I ment the Ox and Bucks re-enactors who work there and got to have a look at their Stens, Brens and Enfield Rifles. I decided I wanted to collect deactivated weapons and so bought a copy of Gun Mart magazine, my brother ordered a Lee Enfield No.4 and I bought an MP41, not quite knowing what it was. I was surprised when I recieved it (and have grown to love it) but I discovered that there were militaria fairs in my area and started to attend. It soon became obvious that I would have to learn a lot about firearms and so on if I were to buy anything at these events, actually as much as anything it was the fact that many dealers pay a young collector very little respect until they show that they are knowledgeable about something. Thus I started reading up on firearms, learned more about re-enactment and got involved in living history. Throughout this I had been reading books about the war itself from time to time but it was really not until I became interested in the SS that I started reading WW2 on a regular basis, now I am actually having to conciously decide to read philosophy or fiction rather than WW2 non fiction.

Oh and Urqhi, I found a victor comic at my Nan's house when I was reasonably young, there was little to do so I read it a stupid number of times. I reckon it must have contributed as much to my interest as anything else, that and Commando comic (fantastic little comic).

 

My screenname indicates my time and place as regards WW2; I was born in 1941. My childhood was filled with young men in uniform, even after the war was over. For many of the returning veterans, those were the only clothes they owned that fit them after they turned from boys to men during the war.

A popular expression of frustration at that time was "nuts!" and my mother used it regularly, to the delight of her children. I thought it was so silly. When I asked her where it came from once, she told me it was just another expression, like "piffle!" or "phooey!" -- pretty tame for today's kids. But the story of Bastogne came as an aside in the conversation. I was mesmerized and fell for paratroopers on the spot. Growing up, I learned more and more and by the time I was nineteen and reading serious books, I found I always went first for the books that told the stories of troops in WW2. My study of the war grew in ever widening circles from Bastogne outward.

It's been about 45 years now, and I still get excited when a new book is published on the subject that never tires me. And I'm delighted to see that so many young people also find it riveting material. BK

[ 03. August 2003, 02:52 PM: Message edited by: homefront41 ]

 

A very warm welcome - from a long way away - to these Forums, ma'am ! Maybe you can bring a fresh perspective to some of the discussions here.

Oh, and by the way, I'm reading a book about Bastogne right now....

 

You sure about your gender presumption Martin?

No.9

 

Go to her profile No 9 and take a look at her link...it's a little bio about herself. Nice to see another female on the forum! *LOL*
Hope you enjoy it!

DUCE

 

Welcome Homefront 1941,

Hope you enjoy chatting with us here!

 

Well I’ll be hog-tied with spaghetti and slapped with a cannelloni, you’re absolutely right Duce!


Not sure if she’s as cute as you though?


No.9

 

Welcome aboard, Mrs. 1941! Hope you enjoy yourself here.

And I, as many of you, grew up surrounded by little soldiers 1/72 scale. As a kid I couldn't go out at all because of my health, so I gre up indoors and my grandfather gave me regularly thousands of these small soldiers and I used to recreate the battles I was learning step by step about. Nowadays, I have little formations of these little old veterans on my desk, bedroom and many other places. I used to play with them and my little cousins some two years ago.