h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The last few days have been among the most intense emotional rollercoasters of my life. I didn't know what to expect but really have been so utterly overwhelmed by it all. Hard to put into words (but I'll try for at some point).

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Dunno what's going on, but best wishes!

I've just returned from a family memorial for my distant cousin - only he died in 1943 when his Lancaster bomber crashed off the Dutch coast and his aircraft has been discovered and is being excavated.

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That is a really moving story.

It's amazing how much WWII is still echoing down the centuries. Last week yet another bomb was uncovered during building works near us. And I have just come back from a weekend in our French twin town, celebrating 60 years of partnership. Ours was one of the first German municipalities to find a town in France to twin with after the war. The weekend was marked by speeches and memories of the people who had kept the friendship alive all this time, starting with the Treaty of Versailles.

Sorry to interrupt your thread. Do please keep us posted on the events. Is there anything on line where we can read up about it?

A year after I left school they discovered a giant unexploded bomb was buried underneath the school's sports hall - right beneath where I'd been forced to do star jumps and press-ups twice a week for umpteen years... The school had also had a war memorial in the middle of the track dedicated to the Hurricane pilot who crashed there - he'd been trying to glide in to land in the field, saw it was full of school kids and so chose to nose dive to avoid hitting them, killing himself in the process.

The aircraft has made quite a bit of news in Sudwest Fryslan, you can read up about it on various links, though they tend to be in either Dutch or Frisian:
http://geborgenverleden.nl/
http://www.defensie.nl/actueel/nieuws/2023/09/14/herdenking-lancaster-ed603-vrijheid-is-niet-gratis < - Has a photo of my dad
http://www.defensie.nl/actueel/nieuws/2023/09/14/herdenking-lancaster-ed603-vrijheid-is-niet-gratis <- I'm in a photo on that page

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Thank you. I found I could read the Dutch easily. A sad story, unfortunately not uncommon at the time.

what a story!

And it'll be another exclusive!

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