This might be the best image that I've seen during the Armistice memoriam . . . . How it must have been, and, hopefully, never to be repeated
Gordon, try to get a hold of Peter Jackson's "They shall not grow old". He uses original footage of the trenches, colourised and digitised. It's brutal, but well worth a watch
Made my daughter watch that a couple of weeks ago. She's been doing WWI in history and I think it's important to understand just how awful it was. Also dragged her to the Imperial War Museum and we've got some letters from a great great uncle who was in the trenches, so she got to read them too.
How old is your daughter? I am contemplating letting my 13yr old grandson watch it, he has had lessons about WW1 in the last few weeks.
She's 13. To some extent my intention was to make her understand the horrors of it. I didn't think there was anything that would upset her too much but I made sure we were discussing what we were watching and was prepared to stop it if she wasn't happy.
Having watched the Remembrance coverage I was very impressed with Sophie Raworth who I thought had real empathy with the WW2 veterans. One of the old fellas, Henry Rice said the most telling thing that hit the nail right on the head, "I survived, I got away with it," And there's the rub for me, it's not a question of training, courage or toughness ... just pot luck. The difference between life and death was whether or not your footstep landed on a mine, if the incoming mortar round exploded or failed to go off or whether you hit the beach at the precise moment the German machine gun nest was changing the belt. My Dad escaped all of that but never recovered til the day he died ... ... I wish I could talk to him now and tell him how proud I am.
I found this last year and was torn whether or not to post it. It's written and performed by Bill Elliott about my wife's 1st cousin 2x removed.
My mam's dad was on HMS Kelly when it went down. He survived, was taken POW, and returned home after the war. He refused to talk about his experiences and went to his grave never talking about it. My dad's dad was in the army. He was in France following D Day and was killed instantly by shell fire in his bed. Dad (eldest child) left school at 14 to support the family by working in a sawmill (the local pit wouldn't take anyone below 16). Different age, and NOT a better one. Fine margins.
