Life during the war

Pete Olorenshaw, Nelson, 26 October Your obituary of Norwegian Joachim Ronneberg (Nelson Mail, Oct. 26th) stirred memories in this old guy. I remember, as a bright 8 year-old in occupied Denmark, reading about this deed of sabotage in the illegal newspapers (these were dumped in peoples’ letterboxes at night, delivered by daring teen-agers who would have been killed by the Germans if caught). Here we are now, 76 years later. Society’s biggest, all-pervading worry now is the weather. Our children and grandchildren have learnt nothing from those terrible 1939 – 1945 years. We have a saying in Jutland dialect : “It takes a broad back to carry good days”. My generation’s children and grandchildren do not have the imagination to begin to understand this saying. Perhaps young people are unable to imagine - it may have to be experienced personally. In 1939 – 1945 we only had one problem. It was deadly real - and men were men.

Andy Espersen

Nelson, October 26