I agree with you CAV. Very arty ■■■■■ and up their own backsides.
The ceremony at St. Symphoriem was very moving however, especially the words of the soldiers from both sides, and the moving tributes paid by relations.
Found this short film very moving.
kevmac47:
Monday is the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1. As with most wars technology was the major winner, more efficient ways were devised to kill!
Perversely sideways benefits were the improvements in medicine and transport. I don’t have any pictures vehicles of the era but I’m sure there are
many contributors here to rectify that. Our local TV station has been promoting a new war memorial / sculpture at Seaham Harbour Co.Durham.
People have been flocking to see it, it’s magnificent but the sadness it captures is very thought provoking
Kevmac, the sculpture is brilliant, I’ve seen pictures of it before but can’t get an idea of scale from them , how big is it ?Also who did it ? Was it Anthony Gormley the angel of the north bloke ?
Jim
JFC999:
kevmac47:
Monday is the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1. As with most wars technology was the major winner, more efficient ways were devised to kill!
Perversely sideways benefits were the improvements in medicine and transport. I don’t have any pictures vehicles of the era but I’m sure there are
many contributors here to rectify that. Our local TV station has been promoting a new war memorial / sculpture at Seaham Harbour Co.Durham.
People have been flocking to see it, it’s magnificent but the sadness it captures is very thought provokingKevmac, the sculpture is brilliant, I’ve seen pictures of it before but can’t get an idea of scale from them , how big is it ?Also who did it ? Was it Anthony Gormley the angel of the north bloke ?
Jim
Jim, the name of the sculptor is Ray Lonsdale, his name is on the larger plate on the picture of the back of the sculpture.
Here is another shot I took at the time, I don’t know who the people are but it will give you an idea of the scale of “TOMMY”
Regards Kev.
Hi all,
We were in Ypres yesterday, took these snaps of the menin arch.54 thousand names representing British commonwealth officers and troops with no known grave.to this day the last post is played at 8pm every night as a mark of respect to those sadly lost.for my wife and I it was a very moving experience…
kevmac47:
JFC999:
kevmac47:
Monday is the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1. As with most wars technology was the major winner, more efficient ways were devised to kill!
Perversely sideways benefits were the improvements in medicine and transport. I don’t have any pictures vehicles of the era but I’m sure there are
many contributors here to rectify that. Our local TV station has been promoting a new war memorial / sculpture at Seaham Harbour Co.Durham.
People have been flocking to see it, it’s magnificent but the sadness it captures is very thought provokingKevmac, the sculpture is brilliant, I’ve seen pictures of it before but can’t get an idea of scale from them , how big is it ?Also who did it ? Was it Anthony Gormley the angel of the north bloke ?
JimJim, the name of the sculptor is Ray Lonsdale, his name is on the larger plate on the picture of the back of the sculpture.
Here is another shot I took at the time, I don’t know who the people are but it will give you an idea of the scale of “TOMMY”
Regards Kev.0
Thanks for that perspective Kevmac, makes a difference to get scale .
I will have to go and see it live .
Thanks again
Jim
Good photos them Malc I’ve just been over I was in the villages you used to stop when you took Graham Maddocks over
I’ve been thinking about this thread for a few days and the best I can come up with is that I find it very hard to get my head around the huge scale of the tragic loss of life, carnage, and devastation to families, - of whatever nationality, - that was the consequence of that horrific and dreadful 4 years.
I know of two of my direct forebears that served: - my maternal grandfather John Atkins who was in the Loyal North Lancs Regiment, he survived but died long before I was born so I never knew him and my mum would never talk about him or his war service. He is very much a mystery man and I want to find out about him. My great uncle, Walter Taylor Edge served in the Royal Horse Artillery, being a farmer’s son and a carter by trade he was a skilled horseman. I remember uncle Walter well but I never knew he had served in WW1 until I researched my family history a few years ago and found my great grandfather’s obituary (he died in 1916 and was prominent in the local community) and his son Walter had been granted special leave by his commanding officer to attend his father’s funeral.
I was born three years after the end of WW2 and growing up in the 1950s, then the second world war was still very much to the fore, with several war films being released that kept those events prominent. To me WW1 was the forgotten war, or more likely, the war that people and politicians wanted to forget. Those brave men that had served and survived were from a generation that never talked about their experiences. What horrific memories they must have carried with them for the remainder of their lives.
I find it so sad that at the weekend, someone vandalised a WW1 memorial that was prepared for a service on Monday.
Some of the youth of today don’t realise, or even care, that they are only here because of the sacrifice of others, maybe even their own relatives.
We included many children in our church service on Monday, some of them read out names of some of the fallen, while another read out, “A soldiers story”, of what it was like for a village postman who volunteered and died on the battlefield.
My wife gave a moving sermon, including a tale of a relative of mine, my first cousin once removed, who joined the army initially at 16, but was not allowed to go to war at that age, but when he was 18 and more troops were needed, he went out to France. He lasted just 52 days before he was killed and his body was never found. His father received a package containing all that was found of him, his Rosary.
The sermon urged us to educate our next generation, our children, to learn from the past.
Re WW2, I watched my father go away to war from Heckmondwike Spen railway station, my mother was crying, I was very young so I didn’t fully understand. Luckily he came home 2 years later, he died recently, 95 years old, many of the graves are young fellas with everything to live for.
Somebody mentioned Auschwitz, I couldn’t visit there, after seeing the graves in Northern France and Belgium, Auschwitz would be too much for me.
My maternal grandfather served in the 1914-1918 war but would never talk about it at all. He was one of the few of his mob who survived and couldn’t even bear to come to the seaside with the rest of the family as it reminded him too much of the time he embarked for the conflict. I made the trek to tidy his and my grandmother’s grave last week and as usual said my thanks to him & all his mates who gave so much for us.
Suedehead:
Listened to War horse on radio 2 tonight and found myself welling up.
watched the film last week,very moving.i was welling up watching that…
my great grandfather was killed at the somme.his body was never found.very proud of him.
we did the lights off thing the other night,and i managed to find a candle.
to my dismay not one of my neighbours bothered to pay their respects as we did.
malc step:
OssieD:
The third picture down looks like the cemetery at Pozieres on the D929 just out side Albert, very sad place not just by the number of graves with headstones, but the thousands upon thousands of names of the men who where never found their names are engraved on the walls surrounding it.Hi Ossie D
Correct
2
[attachment=1]SDC12244.JPG[/attachmentCheers Malc.
We stumbled across this place a couple of years back on a failed Stag trip to Le Mans (that is another story 
)
I was amazed how many nameless gravestones there are, really hits home. The real eerie thing was the silence, no wildlife within the walls, no birds overhead, and no traffic noise from outside, these guys really are in peace.
We had a look in the Museum in Albert, would visit the area again for sure.
BIBS:
Good photos them Malc I’ve just been over I was in the villages you used to stop when you took Graham Maddocks over
Used to stay in this chateau in Becourt near Lochnagar Crater
Cheers Malc.
grumpy old man:
Re WW2, I watched my father go away to war from Heckmondwike Spen railway station, my mother was crying, I was very young so I didn’t fully understand. Luckily he came home 2 years later, he died recently, 95 years old, many of the graves are young fellas with everything to live for.
Somebody mentioned Auschwitz, I couldn’t visit there, after seeing the graves in Northern France and Belgium, Auschwitz would be too much for me.
Hi Brian,when in Thailand I visited the bridge over the river kwai and the don/rak war cemetery that was also me close to crying I laid some flowers but with heat must has lasted a hour,keith
I have visited several of the war graves as I usually go to Belgium a couple of times a year and these are of the only German cemetery in Belgium and there is four British soldiers buried here as well as the guide informed us this guided tour was excellent as the lady was very knowledgeable and spoke better English than I am capable of doing also all the German headstones are laid flat in here
This is the remembrance statue of the British soldiers
the next photos are of Essex Farm cemetery
Essex Farm field hospital
These are taken at Passiondale cemetery
these are selection of war memorials in Belgium
The war memorial in Blankenburg
The war memorial at Essex Farm cemetery
a few more
These are of the Meinen Arch in Ypres taken on several visits including one taken from inside the pub on the corner as it was ■■■■■■■ down
My wife and I visited the Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge on the way back from a trip to Paris on a cold November day. When you look back towards the Autoroute you get some idea how terrible it must have been for the soldiers who had to advance up the hill to try and take that position. It really upset my wife who seems to have an empathy with places and things where people have died so we did’nt stay long at the memorial but visited the little museum nearby which tells the story of the battle for the ridge. How many times have we all passed along the autoroute, some not even noticing the tall white columns which are only visible briefly between the trees and said I must visit there one day. Many of the shell craters are still there between the woods that have grown up around the area and a section of trenches German and Canadian have been preserved and are at their closest proximity only about 100ft apart.