I know this is getting to be a bit of overkill,but today I stumbled on
something incredible. It was an envelope filled with letters, photos and
obituaries. But it was an amazing thing to share, and I don't know quite
where to put it.

Starting from the beginning, I was driving to meet my uncle, a Swede, and
his nephew and the nephews daughters' here from Sweden. I had been asked to
bring photos to help make the girls feel there was a connection between our
families, and I have lots of photos dating back to the early 1900s. Amazing
photos, and would be even more amazing if I knew who all I was looking at.

But that aside, because I was unprepared and disorganized, I grabbed a bag
of old photos from my mother's house, and perused them in the car. In
amongst those photos, many of which were from Sweden, was an amazing bundle
about my uncle, Lloyd Allan, who was shot down on D-day. I'd always known
that, but this STUFF was like living it. He was only 21 when he was shot
down so I never met him. I found in that parcel the original letter from his
commanding officer to my grandmother announcing his death, a letter from the
King handsigned (much to my amazement) commending his life and sacrifice, a
few medals given to him posthumously, one from the Palace, one from the
French gov't, one signed by Churchill, but more importantly, I found a
wonderful letter he wrote to my grandmother talking of this "really swell
girl" he met in England, and asking them if they'd be alright with an
English girl for a daughter-in-law. And then there was a letter from the
girlfriend to my grandmother along with a photo of herself, who had gone to
great lengths to get photos of my uncles gravesite. It was an amazing
insight. All the original letters, medals, photos.

I don't know how to adequately describe it. I was living someone else's life
for a few minutes--watching him as he grew to love this lady, and then
listening in as the news came as to his death and her grief and my
grandparents' grief and wondering what would have been different in all our
lives had he lived instead of dying at 21--this wonderful happy vivacious
handsome man that was my uncle.

I don't know how to describe this--it was an intrusion into a life, but a
gift, and a reminder as to how precious life is, and I felt so relieved
somehow that he had found somehow he was so happy about and more than
anything, I was so amazed at the depth of feeling expressed by my
grandmother who had always been a rather cold person in all our lives. So
much stuff happens, and losing two sons in one year would be a horrible
travesty--I now feel I've been given a glimpse into her life and loss.

Some of you may remember I lost my mother in rather tragic circumstances and
so I avoided going thru some of her things. These were new to me, and I was
so amazed. On top of all the other stuff, there were many photos of another
aunt who had been a missionary amongst the Zulus. Incredible photos. I'm not
too happy about the missionary stuff--it's an era of history I wish had
never happened. Nonetheless, the photos are fascinating and date back to
1907.

And know I'm off to bed.

Dawn

----- Original Message -----
From: "Heather Armstrong" <heather@jaguardesign.com.au>
To: <dreamweaver@lists.blueworld.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2004 12:09 AM
Subject: Re: [OT] D-Day 60th Anniversary


> The news in Australia covered this story, remembering the Aussies that
> fought there also.
>
> Here's an interesting link with heaps of info about the event.
> Heather :-)
>
> http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dday/
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: dreamweaver@lists.blueworld.com
> > [mailto:dreamweaver@lists.blueworld.com] On Behalf Of Wilf James
> > Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 2:54 AM
> > To: dreamweaver@lists.blueworld.com
> > Subject: [OT] D-Day 60th Anniversary
> >
> >
> > I have been busy of late and although I have just about kept
> > up with the postings on the list, my contributions of late
> > have been zero. But I'm still here!!
> >
> > I did have some spare time today and I was in central Paris
> > and witnessed something which I found very moving. One of the
> > very well known Paris hotels - The Hotel George V - had all
> > their staff outside to welcome members of the American
> > Veterans of WWII and the D-Day landings arriving at the hotel
> > this afternoon. For more than 30 minutes staff and passers by
> > who had gathered applauded non-stop as about 20 veterans
> > entered the hotel amidst a large press presence. Today I
> > found very special, and I did not have my cameras with me,
> > except for a little Minolta Dimage Xt, which is no bigger
> > than a pack of cards, however I believe I captured the
> > emotion of the moment. I have uploaded the unedited series of
> > images, 51 in all, if anyone is interested in having a look...
> >
> > : http://www.wilfjames.com/vets_ww2/
> >
> > France is remembering the D-Day landings of 60 years ago with
> > a massive celebration of the liberation, beginning with the
> > landings that took place on the Normandy beeches on the 6th
> > of June 1944. Normandy is probably more difficult to get to
> > this weekend than it was 60 years ago. Unless you have a
> > special pass you will not get anywhere near the landing
> > beeches. Personally I have found living in France and
> > learning about a country that was occupied and then (mostly)
> > liberated by the end of 1944 a fascinating experience.
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> > Wilf.
> >
> http://www.wilfjames.com
>
>
> #############################################################
> This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
> the mailing list <dreamweaver@lists.blueworld.com>.
> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <dreamweaver-off@lists.blueworld.com>
> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to
> <dreamweaver-digest@lists.blueworld.com>
> To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to
> <dreamweaver-index@lists.blueworld.com>
> Send administrative queries to <dreamweaver-admin@lists.blueworld.com>
> Dreamweaver Talk Archives:
> <http://www.listsearch.com/dreamweavertalk.lasso>
>
>
>
>
> #############################################################
> This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
> the mailing list <dreamweaver@lists.blueworld.com>.
> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <dreamweaver-off@lists.blueworld.com>
> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to
<dreamweaver-digest@lists.blueworld.com>
> To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to
<dreamweaver-index@lists.blueworld.com>
> Send administrative queries to <dreamweaver-admin@lists.blueworld.com>
> Dreamweaver Talk Archives:
<http://www.listsearch.com/dreamweavertalk.lasso>
>



#############################################################
This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to
the mailing list <dreamweaver@lists.blueworld.com>.
To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <dreamweaver-off@lists.blueworld.com>
To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <dreamweaver-digest@lists.blueworld.com>
To switch to the INDEX mode, E-mail to <dreamweaver-index@lists.blueworld.com>
Send administrative queries to <dreamweaver-admin@lists.blueworld.com>
Dreamweaver Talk Archives: <http://www.listsearch.com/dreamweavertalk.lasso>