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These Men Are My Heroes
And they are disappearing fast
It was VE Day recently, and around the country, there were celebrations for real heroes—the men who selflessly gave everything so that we could enjoy the freedom we have today. I am taking nothing away from the supreme sacrifices they made individually and collectively.
But I want to focus on another group of men I’m encountering second-hand through my work as a funeral celebrant.
These are the men born in the late 1930s-early 40s.
They are the men whose families I’m seeing because they have sadly passed away in their 80s or 90s.
When I sit and talk to the family, I am constantly in awe of what these men achieved and their attitude to life.
Maybe it’s something to do with experiencing the hardship and enduring scarcity during the war years, but these men had such positive outlooks on life.
I’m regularly told that Dad or Grandad would happily tackle any type of DIY. They would build things, they would take on electrics, plumbing, car repairs, anything that needed to be done and all without access to Google, YouTube videos or the power tools we have to hand that make life so much easier.
Now, I realise that car engines were a lot simpler back then. I had my first car in the 80s…