General Chat

May he rest in peace as all the other soldiers who fought and died in a war for their countries.

This is the verse that is read on Remembrance Day in Canada -- even though it was written for England's fallen. ;)

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

I find it moving and eloquent, but I know that the young war dead and their families would have preferred them to grow weary with age. Being relieved of that burden is small recompense for being denied those years.

I had a great uncle who died in Ypres Aug 16 1917, He is commemorated at Tyne Cot Memorial

"For The Fallen" by Laurence Binyon

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Robert

ON APRIL 8TH. IN OTTAWA, ON. THERE IS TO BE A SPECIAL SERVICE TO COMMORATE WW1, VIMY RIDGE AND THE LIVES LOST DURING THAT WAR. IT WILL TAKE PLACE AT THE WAR MEMORIAL, AT 11:00.
I CERTAINLY HOPE TO BE THERE.

MY GRANDFATHER WAS A SCOT, AND HE DIED IN FRANCE IN THE VERY FIRST WEEK OF THE BATTLE OF MONS. I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO GO TO FRANCE FIVE YEARS AGO AND VISIT THE BATTLE FIELD AND STAND WITHIN 10 TO 300 YARDS OF WHERE MY GRANDFATHER LOST HIS LIFE. THERE IS SMALL MEMORIAL, WHERE I FOUND HIS NAME, I LEFT A SINGLE ROSE. WE ALSO VIISTED THE INTERNATIONAL CEMETERY CLOSE BY. I NEVER EXPECTED TO FEEL SO EMOTIONAL, BUT READING THE HEADSTONES SO MANY WERE SO YOUNG. EVEN ON THE RUSSIAN, AND GERMAN GRAVES. MY MOTHER USED TO SAY THAT IN THAT WAR
"WE LOST THE FLOWER OF THE COUNTRY", BECAUSE WE LOST A WHOLE GENERATION OF YOUNG BOYS. MORAG

Thanks for this Janey.

One of the articles about Mr Babcock said:

"Babcock’s death leaves behind two other known World War 1 vets: American Frank Buckles and British national Claude Choules, who lives in Australia."

So you in the UK have an expat WWI veteran still living, just as we in Canada had in Mr. Babcock. ;)


At FreeBMD, someone added a postem in 2009 to the entry for Mr Choules's birth in 1901:

"Born (3 March 1901) Choules is, at age 108, the last seaman from World War I, and the last veteran in the world to have served in both world wars. Choules is also the only remaining British WWI veteran, and the last veteran living in Australia."

Total respect to those who have & continue to keep us safe. RIP

How many World War I veterans are left - Britain also lost their last one in 2009.

Thank you to everyone who has read and replied.

I had originally asked GR whether they might pin the post for "a week or so", on February 20. They replied on the 22nd that it had been stickied as requested, and I said thanks.

Its one-month aninversary will be tomorrow, so I think there will be no disrespect if I ask that it now be allowed to become part of history, as Mr Babcock and nearly all of his comrades have now done.

Bless him.....

R.I.P.

may he have everlasting peace

one of my father's brothers, Jack, shot aged 19 in Mamtez woods - buried on the spot with all his comrades, later the grave site was destroyed by a bomb and now his name is on the Thiepval Memorial. It is also on our own village memorial to the fallen and every remembrance day I plant a wooden cross for him to show he is not forgotten - I never knew him but most days I walk in his footsteps and think of him often

RIP

I have researched the family history, not just of my own family, but that of four more remote elderly ancestors who have found the findings fascinating. One of the first questions I ask is "did you have any relatives who died in WW1 or WW2 (or indeed any other war)". I make a point of researching the battles they were involved in, where they died, and where they are commemorated. It's more important than just listing ancestors - these are people who sacrificed their lives for US.

I hope younger researchers include family members who died in more recent wars, not just the World Wars, but the many "local" wars that still rage throughout the world and involve many nations. Even those that don't involve other nations. I have friends in Sri Lanka, affected by the unrest there, and I'm sure many have relatives and friends who were involved in the Irish battles.

We must remember these people for ever.

My Great Uncle George was a Canadian WW1 Officer, he married my Great Aunt in 1919 and they went back to Winnipeg. I struggled to find him and his family but made a break through this week.

Died in 1944 and is buried in a military gave in Winnipeg his wife never married again and lived to just shy of her 100th birthday and is now with him.

Managed to find her obituary with lovely references to her family and a kind soul is going to take a photo of their grave for me when the snow melts.

A FEW MILE FROM ME THERES
THE AIRFORCE WAR MEMORIAL EGHAM SURREY
THEY HAVE THE CANADIAN AIRFORCE THERE TOO
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=Memorials/ww2mem/runnymede

http://www.207squadron.rafinfo.org.uk/othermems_Run.htm

I TOOK PHOTOS OF INSCRIPIONS A FEW YEARS AGO
ON A CANADIAN LOK UP
ITS A BEAUTIFULL MEMORIAL SITE
AND NAMES ARE STIL BEING ADDED

Thanks to Harry and Gwyn -- Canada's fallen are a long way from home and it is very nice to know that they are thought of where they are buried.

My mother's uncle is buried in Etaples, France, and two years ago my brother took her to Paris and they visited the cemetery. Uncle Ross was killed, gased in France (and survived for a time in a US field hospital), only 5 weeks before the Armistice.

Canada's Virtual War Memorial is here:
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/virtualmem
The records of the war dead are searchable, and copies of their entries in the illuminated Books of Remembrance may be viewed, printed or ordered.

Not quite on topic, but I recently visited the Marble church, Bodelwydden, North Wales where many Canadian servicemen are buried.
The terrible irony is that they died in 1919 in a flu epedemic whilst at a nearby transit camp.

Happy days

Maurice, I entirely agree with you. I censored my own speech on that point here to avoid any ill feeling it might generate.

WWI was a blot on humanity's copybook, a pointless war, one that wasted many lives and lay waste to the environment for decades to come. That is a lesson to be learned, and I'm glad that at least some popular history of WWI, e.g. television documentaries, does tell us about that aspect.

WWII was pretty indisputably a necessary war, made that way by the actions of powers that truly did threaten the way of life we value. WWI, the petty squabbles of the rich and vain, played out with the lives of Babcock's comrades, those who died and those who survived alike.

World war 1 history is all about throwing away lives futilely.

If you were one of hose lives that is what you would want remembered. it is a total contradiction of that to believe the propaganda about it all actually being necessary to save us from something.

The end of an era.

I have stood at the graves of young Canadians in a military cemetery near here and am glad that John Babcock had a longer life.
May he rest in peace.

Gwyn

Bless him, fancy him not thinking himself worthy of a state funeral, he may not have fought but he was still a part of the fighting men. RIP.