By Chris Hampson, NBC News London Bureau Chief
LONDON – Remembrance Day has always been a special part of my life. As a kid, my home in the North of England was full of talk about the wars.
My parents had lived, struggled – and danced – through World War II. My nimble-footed dad was the “Master of Ceremonies” at his munitions factory weekly “socials,” and whisked his soon-to-be-bride (my mum) off her feet there.
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| Getty Images |
| The last surviving British World War I veterans from left to right, Henry Allingham,112, Harry Patch, 110, and Bill Stone, 108, gather at the start of the Armistice Day commemorations on Nov. 11 in London. |
My uncle had fought the Japanese in Burma, and looked thin and gaunt the rest of his days. That may have been jungle warfare, or marrying my mum’s bad-tempered sister. Either way, it was a battle.
But my grandfather could beat them all, by fighting in what was once called the Great War – ironically, “the war to end wars” – World War I.
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