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‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them’
~ Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) ~
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Welcome to the Hovel on Remembrance Sunday, a day to commemorate all the service men and women who have died. Regardless of age we should take time to remember the Fallen on this day and pray for future peace......
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This year marks the 90th anniversary since the Armistice for WW1 was signed at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month 1918. Each one of us would have lost a member of our extended family in the Great War, sadly some more than others. Some of us would have also lost a family member in other conflicts since then right up to the present day......
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Symbolic of this day is the wearing of a red poppy, which has been worn since the first official Legion Poppy Day held in Britain on the 11th November 1921. This was inspired by the poem ‘In Flanders Field’ by John McCrae, who was a Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel. McCrae wrote the poem on May 3, 1915, after he witnessed the day before the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer..... He himself was not to return home. While still commanding No 3 Canadian General Hospital at Boulogne, McCrae died of pneumonia and was buried with full honours in the Wimereux Cemetery....
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~ In Flanders Fields ~
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.
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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.
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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.
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~ John McCrae (1872-1918) ~
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Lieutenant Colonel John McCraeCanadian Army Medical Corps
(Photo from William Notman and Son)
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Many poems, letters and writings would emerge from this terrible time. I remember studying in school the works of Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brook and Siegfried Sassoon.....
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~ The Soldier ~
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever 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.
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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.
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~ Rupert Brooke (1887 - 1915) ~
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Rupert Chawner Brooke(Photo from Imperial War Museum Collections)
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Rupert Brooke wrote The Soldier in 1914 and was later commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a temporary Sub-Lieutenant but did not experience combat at first hand. On his way to a battle at Gallipoli off the island of Lemnos Brooke died from Sepsis on 23 April 1915. He was buried at 11 pm in an olive grove on the island of Skyros, Greece. The Brooke family were to suffer another loss the same year. On June 14 1915 Rupert's brother 2nd Lt. William Alfred Cotterill Brooke was killed in action on the Loos battlefield......
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In memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the ‘War to End All Wars’ I would like to share with you pictures of some of the men who did.....
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My first cousin once removed, Ernest Sidney Doncaster
Private 91858, 5th Bn. Tank Corps
Died March 22 1918 France aged 19
Remembered on the Pozieres Memorial, France
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Pozieres Entrance (Photo from the CWGC.org)
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My husband’s gt. Grand uncle Robert Leggott
Private 16380, 7th Bn. Lincolnshire Regiment
Died May 2nd 1918, France aged 35
Buried Forceville Communal Cemetery, France
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The last postcard Robert send home to his father dated 4/4/1918
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“ Arrived here, going over tonight 4th. Am alright will write later.
From Bob”
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Newspaper cutting about Robert
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Scroll sent to Robert's father Richard
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My husband’s 1st cousin once removed, William Henry Ward
Private 630044, 20th Bn. London Regiment
Died August 30th 1918, France aged 22
Buried H.A.C. Cemetery, Ecoust-St. Mein, France
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William’s Grave
“Known to be buried near this spot”
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George Cyril Ward, brother of William Henry Ward above
Rifleman R/12447, King’s Royal Rifle Corps
Died September 25 1918, France aged 21
Buried Berthaucourt Communal Cemetery, Pontru, France***********
George's grave in France
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Both my husband and I lost many more family members in both WW1 and WW11, so it saddens me to read about yet another theft of memorial panels. While visiting the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site today I read an article, dated November 3rd 2008, about the theft last weekend of a number of bronze name panels from the war memorial at Philips Park Cemetery, Manchester. At a time when we should remember those brave men and women, these callous thieves chose to desecrate their memory......Until next time...lol...
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‘Remembering is an act of resurrection, each repetition a vital layer of mourning, in memory of those we are sure to meet again.’
~ Nancy Cobb, in "In Lieu of Flowers" ~
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