Front Royal father/son in London, a city under siege but undeterred

Screaming police and other emergency vehicle sirens every few minutes around the clock greeted us in London – my home town – but we noted life went on unperturbed for the millions of residents and those who work there in the city.  They were keeping a stiff, strictly British, upper lip, as they say.

With my 32-year-old U.S. Air Force son along for the ride, we were in the UK for a few days this month to see the sights and to pay a nostalgic visit for the first time to the house where I was born in the London suburbs 84 years and 3 months ago.

While in the city, the two Malcolms, both actively interested in World War II history, toured the maze of underground ‘war rooms’ near the Houses of Parliament from which Prime Minister Winston Churchill directed England’s war against Germany with a staff of several hundred. This is just one of the ‘war rooms’, occupied 24/7 during the war. Photos/Malcolm Barr Jr. and friends

What we found on arrival was, to use a well worn cliché, a city under siege following two separate terrorist attacks on two of London’s historic bridges.  Police armed with automatic weapons were omnipresent throughout the downtown area.  On our first day, we watched as a SWAT team tumbled from a police van, including civilian-clad men and women, in the middle of London Bridge, scene of a March terrorist incident. Londoners gave them scarcely a glance as they bustled along crowded sidewalks to go about their business.

Malcolm Barr Jr. and Sr. at London Bridge

Since the last two attacks featured cars or trucks mowing down people on bridge pavements (pavement is their word for sidewalk), a taxi driver pointed out recently installed metal crash barriers had replaced curbs on either side of all major city bridges.

At the Tower of London, where King Henry VIII had executed several of his wives and their servants in the 1500s, an incongruous sight (to me) was of the traditional guardsmen wearing 19^th century bearskin head wear (busbys) and bright red uniforms awkwardly shouldering automatic rifles, presumably loaded, rather than the period arms of the day.  The guards at Buckingham Palace were similarly equipped and clad.  The weapons seemed markedly out of place.

Palace Guard have updated their weapons to accommodate uncertain times.

Virginia Tech apparel had a leg up on American media attire at Buckingham Palace

Regular police, too, were all armed.  In my day, going back to World War II, all police (the Bobbies) carried was a baton, even during the Battle of Britain when tens of thousands of civilians were killed and Germany was thought to be preparing to invade England .

At the palace, I wore my Royal Examiner sweatshirt (“Don’t mess with the press”) but it was my son’s T-shirt that got attention.  It had the Virginia Tech insignia and someone in the crowd recognized a fellow Hokie!

Who says you can never go home again?!?

A nine-mile journey to the end of one of many London Underground lines took us to a suburb labeled Edgware where, with the help of Malcolm Jr.’s cell phone, we were able to hunt down the address, 43 Redhill Drive, in an old, established estate of lower to middle-class homes, the house where I was born.  The current occupants, about the same age as me, were welcoming and interested in our quest.  They’d lived in the house 55 years and were not aware of any previous occupants.  We took photographs and left with a feeling of accomplishment.

Malcolm Barr photographed in front of the house he was born in 85 years ago in North London.

Returning to our hotel, we were met with the same cacophony of sound, the screaming sirens and heavy police presence.  And the sight of Londoners calmly and obliviously shopping, theatre-going, or just going about their business.  From the Second World War (1940s) to the Irish (IRA) terrorist attacks (1970s) to the current spate of ISIS incidents in London and other parts of the country, they’d seen it all before and continued to keep that stiff, British upper lip.

Big Ben says it is almost time to move on …

God bless them all!

(Malcolm Barr Sr. of Rockland, born in London, England, emigrated to Canada in 1955 and to the United States in 1961. He is a retired international journalist and U.S. government public affairs official, retiring in 1996.  He has lived with his family in Warren County since 2002.  His son, Malcolm Jr., graduated from Randolph-Macon Academy, attended Virginia Tech and is a U.S. Air Force intelligence specialist and Iraq veteran. He plans to retire from the military next month after 11 years service.  Father and son returned home last week via Iceland.  Barr Sr. will describe their experiences within the Arctic Circle in a forthcoming article.)