The first time I came across war graves in the Somme area of France I wasn't looking for them it was by chance.
The first was a memorial to a whole Pals battalion killed over 3 days it was on the edge of a wood on a back road.
It realy got to me,imagine seeing friends and relatives falling around you and knowing your turn was coming.
Another brought home how we are all equal in death,It was a British cemetery on a long open road,at the back where some German graves and like the British ones very neat and well looked after.
So many where marked known unto god and the ages where very young many joined up at 14 or 15.
The next year I planned and visited the main cemetery's where the sheer volume of crosses was hard to take in.
There where special sections for different faiths,I was impressed by how well done and respectful everything was.
On November 7th, 1920, in strictest secrecy, four unidentified British bodies were exhumed from temporary battlefield cemeteries at Ypres, Arras, the Asine and the Somme.
None of the soldiers who did the digging were told why.
The bodies were taken by field ambulance to GHQ at St-Pol-Sur-Ter Noise. Once there, the bodies were draped with the union flag.
Sentries were posted and Brigadier-General Wyatt and a Colonel Gell selected one body at random. The other three were reburied.
A French Honour Guard was selected and stood by the coffin overnight of the chosen soldier overnight.
On the morning of the 8th November, a specially designed coffin made of oak from the grounds of Hampton Court arrived and the Unknown Warrior was placed inside.
On top was placed a crusaders sword and a shield on which was inscribed:
"A British Warrior who fell in the GREAT WAR 1914-1918 for King and Country".
On the 9th of November, the Unknown Warrior was taken by horse-drawn carriage through Guards of Honour and the sound of tolling bells and bugle calls to the quayside.
There, he was saluted by Marechal Foche and loaded onto HMS Vernon bound for Dover. The coffin stood on the deck covered in wreaths, surrounded by the French Honour Guard.
Upon arrival at Dover, the Unknown Warrior was met with a nineteen gun salute - something that was normally only reserved for Field Marshals.
A special train had been arranged and he was then conveyed to Victoria Station, London.
He remained there overnight, and, on the morning of the 11th of November, he was finally taken to Westminster Abbey.
The idea of the unknown warrior was thought of by a Padre called David Railton who had served on the front line during the Great War the union flag he had used as an altar cloth whilst at the front, was the one that had been draped over the coffin.
It was his intention that all of the relatives of the 517,773 combatants whose bodies had not been identified could believe that the Unknown Warrior could very well be their lost husband, father, brother or son...
We remember - with humility - the great and the ultimate sacrifices that were made, not just in this war, but in every war and conflict where our service personnel have fought - to ensure the liberty and freedoms that we now take for granted.
Every year, on the 11th of November, we remember the Unknown Warrior.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them
It was a moving service this morning.
This summer during lock down I did my daily exercise in the local parks or cemetery. There is a lovely memorial in the centre with names of local lads and lasses buried abroad, plus 184 graves of service men and woman including 1 Belgian that died during WW1. Most of the WW1 dead are from the Middlesex Regiment or the London Rifles, mostly dating from either Ypres or Messines
I might take a stroll around there again this weekend.
John
Last edited by Sinnlover; 12th November 2020 at 21:03.
I have a 'poppy' made from the brass shell fuses recovered from the battlefields of the Somme. I really can't comprehend the sacrifice that hundreds of thousands of young men who were barely out of school made so that we have the lives that we have today.
Last edited by amnesia; 11th November 2020 at 20:09.
I watched this the other day so many things surprised me and some I recognise from my days.
Its in the voices of those who where there.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...l-not-grow-old
In NZ I went to his Gallipoli exhibition which was also mind blowing,then I understood the ties between NZ and Australia.
I was last to leave as usual so much to take in.
https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/visit/exh...-scale-our-war
The horrors that those young people went through put into perspective the hardships that we face today.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
We took our 4 teenage boys to visit a number of the memorial sites and battlefields in France and Germany a few years back. It was overwhelming at times but a very worthwhile education for us all. I will never forget standing in trenches where thousands of men stood just prior to going over the top, trying to imagine how they must have felt and the ultimate sacrifice so many paid, contrasting with my lifetime and the lives we enjoy now as a direct result. Truly humbling and we must never forget.
Sobering comments here. We owe so much to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
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A very moving post OP, thank you.
Lest we forget.
Can only echo this just reading a book which touches on the lives of the bomber crews flying Lancasters out of Lincolnshire the one in the book youngest 18 oldest 23 average life span five sorties or 20 hours today’s world just pales.Originally Posted by estoban7
We must never forget.
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
As my young children grow, I find I can hardly explain the courage and sacrifice that we commemorate without now coming close to tears.
The documentary I linked to is a must see.
2 things realy surprised me
1,how little the people back home realised the conditions they had lived in at the front line and how little was talked about it.
2,How much the British realy liked and respected the Germans,but even the Germans hated the Prussians.
I can only access a few of my photos of memorials I have visited in Europe,the lone gravestone was one of those in the British cemetery.
The Austrian one was the only one ive come across in that country though I haven't been far.
Last edited by bwest76; 11th November 2020 at 20:18.
My hometown used to be the Canadian HQ after WWII. The relation between my town and Burlington in Canada is very strong. A teacher at a local primary school came up with the plan to organise a special Remembrance Day with his class under the monument. Children cited parts of letters from Canadian WW1 soldiers and cited parts of biographies of soldiers who've died in Flandres. Finally one recited In Flanders Fields. Others sang the Dutch and Canadian national anthem. These Dutch kids did everything in English. A handful of children recorded the ceremony on camera and phone. Later today they started editing the footage into a short video for the Majors of Burlington and my hometown. A video will also be sent to the Burlington local media, the Canadian ambassador in The Hague and the Dutch ambassador in Canada.
Menno
EDIT: I found a pic on the website of our local newspaper. The website even mentioned that these kids all had anti-Covid facemasks with the well-know poppy on it.
Last edited by thieuster; 11th November 2020 at 22:47.
Holland does a lot that we dont know about in England,personally I think its wonderful.
^ Very heartening Menno.
Very poignant post thanks OP. So many made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom today. We would all do well to remind ourselves from time to time of the horror that they would have experienced. May they all Rest in Peace.
I visited the military cemetery at Etaples some years ago and had to choke back tears for an hour.
Witnessing such a vast panorama of man-made death, laid out in identikit white slabs above lush green grass, was too much.
I believe, at 11,500 casualties, it's one of the smaller memorials.
We can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like.
I've seen the graves near Verdun when I was on a school trip with my history class many years ago. All of the above, emotion-wise when you're confronted with the sight of endless rows of crosses. What always puzzled me (and still does) is how the generals and the military staff were able to morally justify their commands and dispatches to send those men out of the trenches again and again. Mind-boggling.
Friends of us used to live on the French side of the Belgian - French border. A tiny piece of France where the language is still Dutch (Flemish). The Belgian side of the border is hard-core Dutch/Flemish speaking territory in the language-war between the Wallonian and Flemish community. Do not underestimate that. We drove to Ypres one day and our friends showed us a lot of small Belgian WW1 monuments. All were soiled with tar and black pain. The message: French speaking officers had pushed Flemish speaking conscripted military men 'over the edge' into the death. I can not get my head around this sort of thing.
Menno
I highly recommend a Radio 4 programme playing this week called An Unknown Warrior. 5 x 15 minute episodes tell the story of how it all came to fruition.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000p6gk
The narration is principally by David Haig who delivers significantly more gravitas than most of his TV roles might suggest.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
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