Relatively close to 100 years...

[spitfire boy]

Since the start of WW1.

Seems odd considering that I'm a child of the '90s, but it's a difficult concept for me to grasp. 100 years (94 since 1914) is a loooong time (at least in relation to a human lifespan), and yet we see photos and footage of the trenches, the tanks, artillery, mechanized war, and you think... it doesn't seem nearly as old as 100 years.

Perhaps it's because I grew up in an era where at least some WW1 veterans were/are still alive. It's fascinating how human mindset can obstruct fact; 'WW1 wasn't that long ago because they had technology we have improvements of today' etc etc...

Anyone feel the same way? I was interested...

P.S. It also rather interests me to think of the fact that I'm gonna really feel the length that the war lasted - I'm gonna spend 4 years - 4 years - being constantly reminded (and rightly so) by the media of 100th anniversaries of famous battles, events etc... The Somme 100th anniversary will be quite something. Hard to imagine what the atmosphere of the country will be like during those 4 years.

[Craig.]

If your really interested in WW1, the only way to really understand and comprehend it, is to visit europe and the battlefields of france belgium and germany. it's an experience that'll bring home just how recent it was.

[MWISimmer]

An 18 year old soldier at the beginning of WWII would now be 86 or 87, depending on the month they were born...
Now there's food for thought..

[Hagar]

Well, it's now 9th January 2008 & there's a few years to go yet before the centenary of the start of "The War To End All Wars". Britain declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914 which ended with the Armistice on the 11th hour of 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. I'm wondering what started your line of thought here.

[spitfire boy]

If your really interested in WW1, the only way to really understand and comprehend it, is to visit europe and the battlefields of france belgium and germany. it's an experience that'll bring home just how recent it was.

I have done exactly that recently-ish...which in answer to your question Doug is what got me thinking...

[beaky]

Welcome to the not-so-wonderful world of feeling old...
It gets worse, trust me!  ;D

My grandfather served in France with the US 3rd Army in the last year of that war... he'd be 109 if he were still alive!

[spitfire boy]

[quote]Welcome to the not-so-wonderful world of feeling old...
It gets worse, trust me!

[H]

My grandfather served in France with the US 3rd Army in the last year of that war... he'd be 109 if he were still alive!

[color=#003300]Your granfather was about the age of my grandmother who joined the RC Nurse's Corps at the beginning of the war. She was about to be shipped to France out of Halifax when my great-grandmother had her located and squeeled on her actual age (16). At war's end she married my grandad (he'd now be 116).
My dad was born on April 20, 1918, which was Adolph Hitler's 29th birthdate; my dad's initials were A.H.
The following day was the circus mele

[beaky]

Welcome to the not-so-wonderful world of feeling old...
It gets worse, trust me!  ;D

My grandfather served in France with the US 3rd Army in the last year of that war... he'd be 109 if he were still alive!

I have remnants of my great-grandfather's services in WW1 - apparently he was a merchant vessel captain or officer (I think) and quite recently my grandfather gave me a book dating from the time of WW1 containing instructions to merchant vessels in time of war. It's weighted with lead so that if the ship was being captured or sunk the book could be thrown over the side and it would sink, thus meaning it wouldn't fall into German hands... his dad (my great-grandad) was issued it, at the end of the war he was presented with it as a memoir when it was declassified, and it's been in the family since. It's incredible... you hear all about the war, zig-zagging in submarine areas, etc from second hand sources, and here I am holding a book that is genuine and real and comes from that era.

It contains a hell of a lot of complicated information such as various recommended zig-zag courses for different situations... quite an incredible item. It shall be much treasured I am sure.

That's cool... my grampa had his unit's war journal, written by the chaplain and hardbound in many copies for those who wanted one. I never did read the whole thing, but it was very interesting despite being filled with a lot of mundane observations.
 Not sure which vulture- er, family member got ahold of that when my grandmother passed away... but I have a few war items that he gave me himself: his little shaving mirror, a bullet casing, and best of all, the small 48-star flag he carried with him on his little vacation through the mud and ruins of 1918 France.

[C]

An 18 year old soldier at the beginning of WWII would now be 86 or 87, depending on the month they were born...
Now there's food for thought..

Unless they lied, which was relatively common it seems.

I went to Gerry Tyack's collection, the Wellington Aviation Museum the other week, and had a nice chat with Gerry and one of his volunteers. The other gent was an ex air gunner, and I thought Gerry almost looked too young to have served through the whole war - until I read head joined the RAF at 16! That aside, a fascinating little collection that I doubt will be around for too much longer, as Gerry is still running it at 84, which is well worth a vist (he has an great little art collection too... )

[Hagar]

An 18 year old soldier at the beginning of WWII would now be 86 or 87, depending on the month they were born...
Now there's food for thought..

Unless they lied, which was relatively common it seems.

Indeed. It was more common in WWI.

Things were a lot different then. I often wonder if young boys would do the same thing today.

Among those hoping to join up were thousands of boys, some as young as 13 and 14. Recruiting sergeants, who were paid for every man who signed up, were more than willing to turn a blind eye to lads who were keen to enlist but who were palpably underage. Too often a boy, in his innocence, would admit to being 16 only to be told, 'Go walk round the building, and see if you are not 19 when you get back.' Most took the hint.

During the Great War, at least 250,000 underage boys enlisted in the British Army, of whom perhaps half were killed or wounded.
http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/a-b/boysoldiers.html

[H]

An 18 year old soldier at the beginning of WWII would now be 86 or 87

Unless they lied, which was relatively common it seems.

Indeed. It was more common in WWI.

Which my post about my grandmother exemplified. ID requirements/checks weren't so much advanced in WW2, either. If the parent(s) approved, it was all the easier. An older uncle went to sea at age fourteen, then transfered into the U.S. Army. He actualy did, however, reach age 18 in 1945, before the war's end.

8-)

[spitfire boy]

Things were a lot different then. I often wonder if young boys would do the same thing today.

Speaking from the perspective of a 14-year old... I don't reckon most would. Reason; because WW1 and WW2 happened, and so much is known about them as common knowledge.

[H]

Things were a lot different then. I often wonder if young boys would do the same thing today.

Speaking from the perspective of a 14-year old... I don't reckon most would. Reason; because WW1 and WW2 happened, and so much is known about them as common knowledge.

It's a little more than that, really, with a perspective quite apparent to the U.K.  Today's U.K. is a comparative welfare state. WW1 was on the tail of the Victorian era where the military was not just a possible route to glory; it was the closest to a fringe benefit job for the middle/lower classes at the time. The civilian arena rarely guaranteed any form of workmen's comp, let alone any other insurance benefit; it was not common for the average worker to have a job where his medication, meals and housing was the responsibility of the company (however meagre that actually was in a battle situation) and, with little added benefits on any civilian job, that had more import than it does now. Even the average homefront (family life) was different (and, just as Hagar can tell you that this was different in his youth, it also was a generation or two before him).

8-)

[spitfire boy]

Things were a lot different then. I often wonder if young boys would do the same thing today.

Speaking from the perspective of a 14-year old... I don't reckon most would. Reason; because WW1 and WW2 happened, and so much is known about them as common knowledge.

[color=#003300]It's a little more than that, really, with a perspective quite apparent to the U.K.