Who: British soldiers
What: Imperial War Museum/Chelsea Pensioner’s
Where: London and Chelsea
When: Royal Hospital Chelsea has been housing veterans since 1692. The first of the Imperial War Museums was established in 1917.
Why: A glimpse into British military history, and how the British today look back on it.
Say hello to my little friend.
Pre-trip: So I wanted to visit the Normandy landing sites in France, but once I realized I could not leave the UK, I decided to find some local museums or organizations dedicated to the British armed forces. I did not really know how they treated their veterans. Here in the United States, our veterans are treated with great respect for their gallantry and service. While the VA may be plagued with a host of problems, it would be a lie to say that the United States turns a blind eye on its soldiers.
Post-trip: It seems that for the British, World War II was their last war. There are still buildings with Luftwaffe aerial bombing damage in London. Churchill remains a revered figure in British politics and history even a half-century after his death. In one of the Tube stations, I saw an advertisement for jams which had a Spitfire in the background, and a woman in uniform in the foreground. The English hold their contributions in both World Wars close to their chests. In both conflicts, they were the underdogs who sacrificed much and persevered, coming out the victors in both incursions. I went to the Imperial War Museum and it had several stories dedicated to guns, tanks, and boats from the World Wars. I also ended up taking a trip down to the Chelsea Pensioner’s Hospital on my free day, and it housed scores of World War II veterans. Now all of this is wonderful, but I also feel it is a bit much, at least in the sense that I oft felt as if the British were romanticizing their roles in the World Wars. But more importantly, I feel they forgot to mention and thank the generations of soldiers that had to fight on behalf of the UK after the ‘40s.
And I hope they receive their fair share of recognition someday. Hopefully not in seventy (or a hundred) years, when their battles become a distant, distorted, and romanticized memory.
Chelsea Pensioner’s Hospital aka Burj Al Arab of nursing homes
Citations:
- “History of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.” Royal Hospital Chelsea. Web. 23 Jan. 2016. <http://rhc.linux.hs.to/historyheritage>.
- “IWM London.” Imperial War Museums. Web. 23 Jan. 2016. <http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london>.