One of several images from today that have had a powerful impact. It is difficult to find words to express the depth of my feelings
when I dwell upon the significance of the 1st of July 1916. The piper playing Flowers of the Forest, the sight of the Thiepval panels,
the field guns in Parliament Square,the solemn beauty of the cemeteries, just the sound of the BBC’s Robert Hall’s voice,
the sheer scale of the casualties is overwhelming.
At the end of the two minute silence this morning they blew whistles simulating the order to go over the top. Listening to it made the hairs on my arms stand up. Very simple but very moving.
These men who gave their lives for us, and ALL servicemen and woman past and present deserve our utmost respect.
I was scared enough to bugger off down to London for my basic training. God knows how these guys summoned the courage to run into machine gun fire.
Real heroes for evermore. RIP.
Those fine young men will always be better men than the politicians who sent them then, and the current young soldiers better men and women than the politicians who send them now…some things never change.
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
eagerbeaver:
These men who gave their lives for us, and ALL servicemen and woman past and present deserve our utmost respect.I was scared enough to bugger off down to London for my basic training. God knows how these guys summoned the courage to run into machine gun fire.
Real heroes for evermore. RIP.
They were told that the shelling would soften up the Germans but the Germans had better, well constructed trenches that withstood the brunt of the artillery fire. The men went over the top weren’t expected the Germans to be there. The begining of the war was celebrated, it being called The Great War. Thousands joined up thinking they would sweep into France, give Fritz what for and be home by Christmas. We know now what a human meat grinder it turned out to be. A million men on all sides died during the Somme battle, the only reason we won it was because we introduced the tank and it terrified the Germans.
My town of Barnsley lost 300 of the young brave souls on the very first day of the Battle Of the Somme. All of them volunteers and formed both the 13th and 14th Yorkshire Regiments also known as the Barnsley Pals regiments.
There is going to be a special event held in the Barnsley Town Hall museum that starts next month and runs until November. With all sorts of things on show including the original letters sent from the soldiers on the front line to their loved ones back home, pictures, videos etc. I for one will be making a trip into town to see it and show my respect to those who left my town with the intention of fighting for a good cause and what was right only to never come back home to their partners, families and in some cases new born children.
The Town Hall has got a fantastic frosted glass montage of all the lads who lost their life’s most of them with their pictures shown across the front of the Town Hall at the side of the war monument and specially prepared flowerbeds marking the battle of the Somme.
the maoster:
At the end of the two minute silence this morning they blew whistles simulating the order to go over the top. Listening to it made the hairs on my arms stand up. Very simple but very moving.
+1
I was pooing myself just imagining the idea of hearing that noise and climbing out the trench.
I’ve spent a bit of time visiting WW1 sites in the past.
Ypres, Menin Gate, Albert, Ploegstreet, and Thiepval to name a few.
If you haven’t been it is worth a visit.
Once went to a small isolated cemetry (think it was called Apple Tree but I may be wrong) the fields nearby had been ploughed up…you could still see bones on the surface of the soil.
Sobering is the right word, and very poignant.
The heading of the post says it all “Sobering” 19,000 lost on the 1st day !!! A sobering thought …And everyone a true hero.To lave your trench when a whistle sounds ,and to keep charging forwards as everyone around you are falling is truly astounding .heroic ,and yet those words do not do them justice
Being ex forces I can not fathom the how they just kept marching on …When you next go in to work ,remember that gripe about how you have to physically cancel your indicator or the as tronic is penalising us poor brits is a minor inconvienence ,before you moan about trivial things think of those poor souls who did their job with no complaints ,with the ultimate sacrifice,God bless their souls
Real heroes every one o them that went over the top 100yrs ago,just watched on Tv about the Royal Newfoundland regiment 800men went over the top and the following morning at roll call only 68 men were left.
I had 2 great uncles that I never got to meet as they both died at the Somme. One was 15 the other 16 they both came from Donegal. A few years ago I took my daughter on an easter break to Picardy. I took her to the graves of her great great uncles and on their graves it said they were aged 18 it was never acknowledged that anyone under 18 had died… She had gone a bit mad when I told her I was taking her there but after that visit she became interested and that visit changed her forever.We went to the war museum where it showed the remnants of the helmets they wore riddled with bullets the gas masks for the horses and many other things. We walked along a Somme running peacefully and it was beautiful but could not begin to imagine the horror of that war. We saw everything there that was to be seen. I wanted her to remember the people who died there. An old Irish tradition is when you visit a grave you leave a stone on the grave so that person knows you were there. We did this for my great uncles and then my daughter said we must do it for everyone here and we spent hours picking stones and leaving them for everyone. I can tell you without any shame that the tears were pouring down our faces. So much lost and for what. We had a quick trip to the menin gate where every night there is a ceremony of remembrance and we were in bits there. Watching the remembrance today was very hard to watch through tears for the lost generation. A calibre of men and women we will never see again. May their gods bless them all and I hope they are resting easy today.
The heading of the post says it all “Sobering” 19,000 lost on the 1st day !!! A sobering thought …And everyone a true hero.To lave your trench when a whistle sounds ,and to keep charging forwards as everyone around you are falling is truly astounding .heroic ,and yet those words do not do them justice
Being ex forces I can not fathom the how they just kept marching on …When you next go in to work ,remember that gripe about how you have to physically cancel your indicator or the as tronic is penalising us poor brits is a minor inconvienence ,before you moan about trivial things think of those poor souls who did their job with no complaints ,with the ultimate sacrifice,God bless their souls
Brave men, and should always be remember for their sacrifice!
I remember watching a programme called " Forgotton Voices of the Great War" IIRC and some of the men on thier had not talked about the war since the day it had ended almost 60+ years. To hold in all that pain and hurt must have taken so much inner strength as the tales they told and the way they told them made it sound like they would have done it again if called upon (some did in WW2)
God bless each and every one of those poor souls who fought for a better future for us, I know I won’t ever forget them.
volvo2:
I had 2 great uncles that I never got to meet as they both died at the Somme. One was 15 the other 16 they both came from Donegal. A few years ago I took my daughter on an easter break to Picardy. I took her to the graves of her great great uncles and on their graves it said they were aged 18 it was never acknowledged that anyone under 18 had died… She had gone a bit mad when I told her I was taking her there but after that visit she became interested and that visit changed her forever.We went to the war museum where it showed the remnants of the helmets they wore riddled with bullets the gas masks for the horses and many other things. We walked along a Somme running peacefully and it was beautiful but could not begin to imagine the horror of that war. We saw everything there that was to be seen. I wanted her to remember the people who died there. An old Irish tradition is when you visit a grave you leave a stone on the grave so that person knows you were there. We did this for my great uncles and then my daughter said we must do it for everyone here and we spent hours picking stones and leaving them for everyone. I can tell you without any shame that the tears were pouring down our faces. So much lost and for what. We had a quick trip to the menin gate where every night there is a ceremony of remembrance and we were in bits there. Watching the remembrance today was very hard to watch through tears for the lost generation. A calibre of men and women we will never see again. May their gods bless them all and I hope they are resting easy today.
That’s an amazing story. I was welling up reading it. Listening to people on the radio yesterday reading diary extracts of their relatives had the same effect.
Numerous reported occasions when movement was spotted in the early morning mist, accompanied by a fearsome wailing sound.
Soldiers deserting their posts and running in fear. Bagpipes…if the piper falls, another takes over. They will keep coming. They won’t stop. Relentless warriors will be upon you soon.
Lions led by donkeys.
Rest in peace lads.
I could not do it …feel very humble .I wonder what they could make of todays goings on.