That gave the 1955 film, based partly on Gibson's ENEMY COAST AHEAD, an air of authenticity.

Todd wrote about his own war in a 1986 autobiography and talked about it at length to @I_W_M. The account of a man who wrote letters is worth a listen.

🔊 iwm.org.uk/collections/it…
🧵 5/5

By the time Captain Todd was demobilised, he had seen active service in N W Europe and Palestine.

He would claim military experience gave him - and much of the rest of the cast - the perfect grounding for THE DAM BUSTERS. Each knew instinctively how to act in uniform.

🧵 4/5

Todd turned down the offer to portray his own actions in THE LONGEST DAY (1962), claiming it would be too embarrassing and protesting, "I didn't do anything special. I was just there... nothing to make a film about."

Instead, he played Maj John Howard on Pegasus Bridge.

🧵 3/5

Todd joined the army in 1939 and, after being blown up by the Luftwaffe while at Sandhurst, was commissioned into the KOYLI in 1941.

While Gibson's wartime wings came from the RAF, Todd's came courtesy of @TheParachuteReg, with which he would drop into Normandy on D-Day.

🧵 2/5

For the CO, Lt Col Bill Crozier, it was simply a time for reflection.

"I can't help thinking of the awful sights I have seen in Germany and all over Europe and the colossal task now in front of us. It will take a lifetime to get back to normal."

🧵 5/5 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

Amidst this came time for remembrance, thanksgiving and prayer. Prayer for peace and "for those who had given their lives on the journey".

Then, on the evening of 9th May, for those who felt like it, came a time for celebration.

🧵 4/5 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

All of this while supporting a measure of civil administration in the shattered ruins of Hamburg.

It was a grim end to a hard war - "We had witnessed devastation on a large scale in other places, Hamburg was the worst".

🧵 3/5 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

For four days the battalion, which landed in Normandy in June 1944 and fought its way across North West Europe, had been processing German prisoners - 15,000 of them - on top of masses of allied prisoners of war, displaced persons and slave workers.

🧵 2/5 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

Plenty who served during the war - about half of Thatcher's first cabinet had done so, many with distinction (Carrington, Pym and Whitelaw all had MCs, Soames the Croix de Guerre and Joseph had been mentioned in despatches).

Alan Allport has an interesting take on the impact it had on them.

I'm not sure about coming under fire, but I've just shared a thread that may be of interest.

Feeling that "those men and women which served in the forces needed representation in Parliament", Callaghan won a seat in the 1945 General Election.

He'd represent Cardiff South for 42 years and went on to hold all four Great Offices of State.

🧵 6/6 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

By nightfall, their prey had got away.

News of the end of the war in Europe filtered back, and Lieutenant Callaghan and his shipmates marked the occasion in time honoured naval fashion. 👇

🧵 5/6 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

Once commissioned, Callaghan was posted to the East Indides Fleet and spent #VEDay "bombarding the Japanese positions in the Andaman Islands off the coast of Burma and chasing two Japanese destroyers across the Indian Ocean."

🧵 4/6 #VEDay80 #WW2

After a spell in hospital with TB, Callaghan found himself in Whitehall. There, he was involved with a group which toured naval bases lecturing on the dangers of careless talk. It included actors Jon Pertwee and Harold Warrender and director John Paddy Carstairs.

🧵 3/6 #VEDay80

Seeing "a war that ought to be fought," Callaghan followed in his late father's footsteps, joining the Royal Navy as a rating.

On voyages between the north of Scotland and Iceland, he soon discovered how harsh conditions afloat could be 👇

🧵 2/6 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

It probably depends how you define "active combat" - Callaghan saw active service on ships, though acknowledged people in the Blitz were in more danger for most of the time.

As for the difference in US/UK numbers, I suppose that's down to Thatcher (of that generation) serving for nearly 12 years.

But it was perhaps Heath's views on Europe which were shaped the most by his exposure to war.

As he turned his attention to politics, those experiences would become formative. 👇

🧵 7/7 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

Heath finished the war with a mention in despatches and, in recognition of "initiative, ability and devotion to duty" the MBE.

Denis Healey, a contemporary at Oxford, also saw a man who emerged with a new, "very visible" toughness.

🧵 6/7 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2

In January 1945, Heath was given command of a battery and had particular success in the anti-aircraft defence of Antwerp.

On #VEDay, however, his battery's guns were otherwise employed. 👇

🧵 5/7 #VEDay #VEDay80 #WW2