Remembrance Sunday

[Viktoria]

Just thought this was appropriate today ,with the somewhat altered acts of
Remembrance .

Remembrance.

Gently,so gently
The soft winds blow
Between the white stones
Row on row,
Here where we lie.

Softly so softly
The bright sunbeams bless
Enfolding us all
In their warm caress


Silently so silently
The snowflakes fall
Covering us gently
With their loving pall,


Quietly so quietly
The breezes sigh
Whispering our plea
To all who’d pas by
Here where we lie

Stay,tarry,linger a while
It’s not  much to ask
For we who gave all
And now here we lie.

Our living not  easy,
Our dying so hard
Just think of us kindly ,
When soft winds blow
 Bright sunbeams bless,
Snowflakes fall,
And Soft breezes whisper
“Remember them all,
Here where they lie.

Viktoria.

[dowdstree]

That Verse is beautiful Viktoria. Thank you.

Lest we forget,

Dorrie

[josey]

Very poignant, thank you Viktoria. I went to the roadside for the 2 minute silence but saw no-one else doing the same. A digger was working opposite & several cars drove by. A neighbour was washing his car 

[Viktoria]

Yes, thanks, who is the young man in the photograph ?
Viktoria.

[dowdstree]

We stood outside our house with our dog who is wearing his Poppy on his collar.

Only 1 other couple across the road that I could see. They are in their late 30's.

Dorrie

[BumbleB]

Yes, very apt.

I, too, stood outside the house, and I was holding my grandfather's medals - he died 7 October 1916 at Le Sars and is commemorated at Thiepval.

As an aside - did anyone watch the ceremony this morning?  I was intrigued by a strange headgear worn by one of the bandsmen - a white busby with a red band.  Any ideas, anyone?

[josey]

Viktoria, that is my mother's uncle. She was born a few months after he died & her younger brother born in 1918 was named Stanley in his honour. Every year I pin a hand knitted poppy & this picture of Stanley to a tree at our roadside. He was in France for only 3 months when he was killed, no known grave, commemorated on a wall with 14000 others who also have no known graves. My son & myself are the only 2 members of the family who have been to see it.

ADDED for Viktoria - it's at Le Touret war cemetery in Pas de Calais. His name is also on the Stockwell War Memorial in London.

[Viktoria]

Would the wall be  by any chance at the memorial to The Accrington Pals ,or The Chorley  Pals ,they formed part of a  “Pals” regiment.
The 11 th East  Lancs  ,almost wiped out in the first minutes of the first day of “The Somme.”July  1 st 1916 .
It was said of them :-
“  Two years in the making ,ten minutes in their ending “.
They drilled etc,had service in Mesopotamia and then the Somme .
Railway Hollow Cemetery ,near Serre ,France.
What the streets of Accrington and the small towns around, Accrington, Church , Chorley Rawtenstall  etc ,as the telegrams started to arrive would be like ?
. .
Hardly a family not affected.
It is so good that you remember, that is all we can do .
It is strange ,perhaps the low rolling countryside in the Somme area and in Flanders too, but as the poem says, there always seems to be a  soft breeze blowing over the gravestones.
It is very moving .
Thanks for the information, he has been remembered today ,but I am sure other days too.
Viktoria.


Added, sorry I got carried away  before I saw  your added information .
I have photographs of the memorial I mentioned ,which is made if the famous Accrington Stock bricks!V.

[Skoosh]

Anent the white busby/bearskin, the Scots Greys bass drummer used one, a present from a Tsar Nicolas who was colonel in chief.  Now the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

Skoosh.