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Post by mllemass on Mar 30, 2019 12:26:30 GMT
Do you speak Italian, Mllemass? Yes, but not well! We speak a dialect from an area in Italy, and over the years it’s been mixed with made-up Italian-sounding English words. That’s pretty typical of any dialect speakers who go live in another country. There have actually been studies done on it. These dialects have actually died out in Italy, but have been kept alive by those of us who moved away. My sister and I didn’t know that we weren’t speaking proper Italian until the first time we went back there and my cousin made fun of us when we spoke! Ha!
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Post by queenzod on Mar 30, 2019 16:00:30 GMT
That’s so great! I wish I knew Polish or Greek.
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Post by roverpup on Mar 30, 2019 16:10:08 GMT
As some of you might know my husband is an author of a number of books pertaining to WWI and WWII. One of the books is called Dad’s War and is an account of Dan’s father’s experiences in WWII as a tail gunner in a Lancaster Bomber. Here’s a brief description of the contents And a small (outdated - we now have been married 45 years) author info blurb by his publisher... I have absorbed a lot of information (by osmosis) about the First WW (and the Second) just living with Dan, whose passion for all things historical has all consuming since childhood. WWI was a tremendously scarring experience on not only the British people but on all participants of that conflict. It shaped the changes in society in Canada as well. Not only policies but cultural attitudes as well. It was one of the contributing factors in the “Appeasement Policy” of the Chamberlin government prior to the outbreak of war with the Nazis. People were convinced that another totally mechanized war like WWI would be the end of humanity. In Canada the loss of life was horrendous in proportion to the population. There were less than 8 million people in Canada at that time. The Canadian casualty figures are difficult to determine in part because of incomplete sources and the normal vagaries of record-keeping in times of war. As best as can be determined now, Canada’s total wartime military dead for those who served in a Canadian uniform range from 61,122 (and 62,427 if Newfoundland is included) to 66,755 Canadians and Newfoundlanders listed in the Books of Remembrance. Some towns lost most of the young men who had lived in those communities (because of a policy of sending units made up exclusively of volunteers from only one community) when a particular unit was involved in a particularly bloody battle. There were some positives (a real ground swell of national pride and a sense of true “Canadian Identity” came from the war for my country) but the negatives far outweighed the positive for most of the nations. It was indeed traumatising in a personal and societal sense. But it does make for excellent dramatic fodder for storytellers of all stripes today. Forgot to add that currently Dan is working on co-authoring another WWII related book with his best friend. It is about her dad’s efforts in the Canadian Navy during WWII aboard a Corvette in the North Atlantic. His ship was the lead ship in capturing a German sub and many years later he returned at the invitation of some of the German submariners to be the honoured guest of their reunion. It is a story of war and forgiveness. They are about 3/4 done. It is a tremendous story but LOADS of very hard work!
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Post by sgev1977 on Mar 30, 2019 19:08:07 GMT
All this is very interesting! Mexico didn't took part in WW1 because we had our own internal war, Mexican Revolution. A lot of the new artillery that was used in WW1 was also used here. My great-grandfather fought it and survived but when he came back to his house he was very damaged, physically and mentally. He died shortly after. His death affected my grandmother, who was actually a very young girl then, during all her life. She died at 95 with a little of senil dementia and she frequently talked about his dad as if he were still alive. His short life and death had a huge impact on her even when she barely knew him.
Anyway, I think those early wars were particularly traumatic for foot soldiers because there was a clash between the old and the new and the new was horrible. We all know there are some very sadistic mechanicals weapons out there but it was a huge surprise then! It reminds me to this wonderful scene in Parade's End:
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Locations
Mar 30, 2019 19:55:39 GMT
via mobile
Post by roverpup on Mar 30, 2019 19:55:39 GMT
My father didn't serve in the military because he was a railway worker (a "fireman" on a coal-fired train engine) and that was considered an essential service and they wanted people with those jobs to be exempt from overseas duties.
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Post by ellie on Mar 30, 2019 21:48:10 GMT
Well Ireland of course has a complicated relationship with WW1. At the beginning of the war Ireland was still part of the UK and many thousands of young Irish men fought in the British Army. Then in 1916 the Irish revolution against British rule began in Dublin and quickly spread nationwide and gained support. So you had the bizzare situation where thousands of Irish men were fighting for Britain in France and Belgium while back home thousands of their countrymen and women were fighting against Britain.
The result was that by the time the survivors returned from WWI Irish Independence from the UK was underway so the War veterans were a bit of an embarrassment and were either ignored or got a hostile reception. It wasn’t until the hundredth anniversary of WW1 that our Government officially recognised the bravery of those Irishmen who had fought (and many of whom had died) in WW1.
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Post by ellie on Mar 30, 2019 21:50:41 GMT
Ireland was neutral in WW2 but my Dad would have been too young to join the army anyway.
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Post by mllemass on Mar 30, 2019 23:05:46 GMT
I almost forgot that my father did serve some time in the Italian military, but it was in the 1950’s! I think it was mandatory in those days (and maybe still is?) He tells stories about spending time in France and Germany. He learned enough German and French to be able to understand a bit of English when we came to Canada a few years later. And once in Canada, he was required to attend ESL classes (I guess they only required it of the “head of the family” because my mother was not included in those classes!)
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Post by queenzod on Mar 31, 2019 2:13:54 GMT
My dad “fought” in WWII. I say “fought” b/c he was only 18 when he joined up, and by the time he completed his flyer training the war ended. Still, he got his GI bill which paid for his PhD in Chemistry, and he was able to escape from the screaming poverty of his childhood and make a nice life for us. I miss him. 🥺
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Post by sgev1977 on Apr 4, 2019 13:34:36 GMT
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