Date: 2007-11-24 08:02 pm (UTC)
nd the attitudes and actions of the men who defined it are unimaginable to us now

but - for me, at least, I can't speak for the very honourable JaffaCake - those attitudes and actions aren't at all unimaginable. My grandmother and great aunt had two brothers; both fought in WW1: Dennis died, "Mac" went to Malaya. That same great-aunt married a WW1 vet (she met him playing mixed hockey after the War) but her own aunt also lost her fiancee and never did marry (like so many). My father's father flew in WW1 and I knew him very, very well (he lived to be 102). My grandmother - Dennis's sister - was a VAD.

I suppose having been at Oxford in the early 80s meant I was exposed to many class attitudes which had survived both wars, as well as to a surprisingly large number of men who had fought in the ranks.

That world may be unimaginable to some of the teenagers and kids in their early 20s, but I am not sure it's unimaginable to all of them. If nothing else, I suspect many of them just about can imagine it and have an element of gratitude that materially, at least, they have more than their forebears had. You know, indoor loos, hot water on tap, and teh Net ;-)
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