WWI - Visit 1
Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024 04:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
debris4spikeWell, I am back!
It was a great trip, as ever - following "Behind the Front Lines" ... so where Granddad did his training, and spent time in hospital, and was eventually invadided home from.
Our first stop was at Wimereux Cemetery to see the grave of John McCrae who wrote In Flander's Fields ... he actually wrote it in 1915, as a private tribute when a close friend was killed. He sent the poem to his mother, who had it published.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
As you can see, the cemetery was started on the edge of the town's cemetery
My Granddad's regiment
Love this poignant personal inscription
From there we went to Terlincthun Cemetery which was started in the late 40's, as more and more bodies were found. Most other cemeteries were started at battle sites, or near hospitals ... but there were a lot of random individual graves, so this was started so they could rest together.
42 Allies, and 2 Germans, found in 1982, and moved to rest here.
From there we moved to our final stop of the morning - Etaples Cemetery. This was started near a large hospital area, which is one of the places Granddad spent time, but unlike these people, he returned home to England.
A DSO with 3 bars .... in other words he received the award 4 times.
A nursing sister.
A French soldier
Chinese Labour Corps
German soldiers
Indian soldiers
A member of the RFC
A husband, who was injured, so his wife came over to nurse him ... but died first.
It was a great trip, as ever - following "Behind the Front Lines" ... so where Granddad did his training, and spent time in hospital, and was eventually invadided home from.
Our first stop was at Wimereux Cemetery to see the grave of John McCrae who wrote In Flander's Fields ... he actually wrote it in 1915, as a private tribute when a close friend was killed. He sent the poem to his mother, who had it published.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
As you can see, the cemetery was started on the edge of the town's cemetery
My Granddad's regiment
Love this poignant personal inscription
From there we went to Terlincthun Cemetery which was started in the late 40's, as more and more bodies were found. Most other cemeteries were started at battle sites, or near hospitals ... but there were a lot of random individual graves, so this was started so they could rest together.
42 Allies, and 2 Germans, found in 1982, and moved to rest here.
From there we moved to our final stop of the morning - Etaples Cemetery. This was started near a large hospital area, which is one of the places Granddad spent time, but unlike these people, he returned home to England.
A DSO with 3 bars .... in other words he received the award 4 times.
A nursing sister.
A French soldier
Chinese Labour Corps
German soldiers
Indian soldiers
A member of the RFC
A husband, who was injured, so his wife came over to nurse him ... but died first.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-09-06 02:20 pm (UTC)It is amazing seeing the peace now, and remembering what these people lived in