Today is the 70th anniversary of the blitz
 

and London marks it by having a tube strike.....you have to love modern times in this city.

Missed this one! Got an elderly friend who as a child in London was moved to the country along with thousands of other children during the Bitz. I think the Brits forget too soon but remember, they voted out Churchill after he had helped win the war for them.

Sally.

An 89 year old woman died in London on September 2nd. She had no family, and sadly no one noticed her missing for a few days. When police entered her flat they searched her papers, and discovered she was once a secret agent for the UK, was arrested by the Nazis a number of times and escaped, and was awarded the MBE for her actions.

Amazing.

Damn! Have to tell my Dad about this! Do you have a link? So many heroes and heroines have no names now.

Sally.

Could never get sick of the sound of a merlin engine :)

Churchill was the man for the hour but he had a very chequered past and once the war was over it needed someone very different to rebuild and sort out the many problems that stayed for a lot of years.

jesus, scared me for a sec. I thought you meant our kind of tubes were striking.

Yup...she was told never to talk about it and didn't. Today people would be selling the rights for a reality show as soon as the war ended.

Yeah, a "chequered" past. First Lord of The Admiralty, Chancellor of The Exchequer, Secretary of State For Air, Secretary of State For War, Minister of Munitions, President of The Board of Trade, Home Secretary, Commander, 6th Batallion, Royal Fusilers, Cornet (Second Lieutenant) in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars, later Colonel, fought in the Boer War, World War I, seven honoary degrees, Nobel Prize recipient and had such a "chequered" past that he was again elected Prime Minister in 1951 and served until 1955.

Britain desperately needs someone with such a "chequered" past today to straighten out the mess that it is in today.

Sally.

Yahoo News Link

LONDON (Reuters Life!) ? A reclusive old lady who died alone in her flat in southwest England and had no one to pay for her funeral has posthumously shot to fame after it emerged she was an intrepid World War Two secret agent.

Eileen Nearne died aged 89 at her home in the town of Torquay on September 2. In the absence of any known relatives to make funeral arrangements, authorities entered the flat to take charge several days later, a local council spokeswoman said. A search for documents that might help locate relatives instead yielded a treasure trove of medals and papers that revealed the life of a woman once known as "Agent Rose," who defied the Nazis as a wireless operator in occupied France.

British media compared her death to that of the fictional Eleanor Rigby, who died alone in a Beatles song.

"She was to be buried, like Eleanor Rigby, along with her name," said the Times newspaper, which published on its front page a large black-and-white photo of a young Nearne in a beret.

"That may now change. It ought to, given Eileen Nearne's service to her country ... Her courage was capped only by her humility. Her life deserves to be sung about every bit as much as Eleanor Rigby's," said the Times in an editorial.

A member of the secretive Special Operations Executive (SOE), the 23-year-old Nearne took a night flight into France in March 1944 to work as an undercover agent helping coordinate a network of resistance fighters and spies.

CONCENTRATION CAMP

She was arrested by the Gestapo four months later but was able to hide her true identity thanks to her fluent French, acquired during childhood when her family lived in France.

However, Nearne was arrested again weeks later and was imprisoned at Ravensbrueck concentration camp before being transferred to a forced labor camp in Silesia. She escaped in April 1945 but was re-arrested, before escaping one last time.

After the war, Nearne was awarded an MBE, or Member of the Order of the British Empire, in recognition of her services. She lived for most of the rest of her life with her sister Jacqueline, who had also served in the SOE.

Since her sister's death in 1982, Nearne had lived alone and never spoke about her wartime exploits.

"Isn't it ironic that this lady, with her Special Operations Executive training, carried this through for the rest of the life and remained under cover, so much so that we're talking about her with such surprise just after her death," said John Pentreath, of the Royal British Legion, in a BBC interview.

The Legion, an organization dedicated to the welfare and memory of members and veterans of the British armed forces, has taken over preparations for Nearne's funeral, which will take place next week. "We began to realize that a large bit of our history has just left us and it is hugely important to us that even now, after she's died, we do something about it, which is what we're going to do at her funeral," Pentreath told the BBC.

"We will pay her the honor and respect that she deserves."

:1orglaugh

Yes, today is Battle of Britain Day. I used to live near Biggin Hill airfield, which was a fighter station during the battle. There was a commemorative air show there every year in mid-September... don't know if they still have it.

I guess history isn't your strong point. :2 cents:

Sad that people like that should ever be alone and forgotten.

been watching a lot of programs and tv docs on the battle of britian these past few weeks, such brave men!

Only the air show in June this year. Think there is a concert organised by the same people for Battle of Britain.

this was from last week, but its an interesting 1 minute video of some color images of damage in London.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100906/..._blitz_footage

Yup, they do but not sure when. Today was pretty horrible weather for flying.

My first mother in law used to tell me her memories of watching the planes fighting in the sky. She lost her youngest brother when their house was bombed too. It really isn't that long ago in the scheme of things but most of us in countries such as the UK and the USA couldn't imagine such things. Of course, other countries with more recent wars can indeed.

Yeah, the colour footage was pretty amazing to watch.

churchill was a GREAT wartime leader but that doesn't mean he would have been a great peacetime one. he was replaced by clement atlee who was one of the best british peacetime leaders of the 20th century who created amongst other things the NHS (socialised medicine) soon after the end of the war.

And who was replaced by Winston Churchill in 1951. Thank you for your input.

Sally.

We need all a tube strike :winkwink: