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Post by corsair67 on Jul 1, 2006 20:32:53 GMT 12
Today marks the 90th Anniversary of the commencement of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916.
60,000 Allied casualties on the first day.
Lest We Forget.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 2, 2006 14:02:03 GMT 12
Hear hear
I have been thinking about the fallen on this anniversary too. I also went and bought All Quiet On the Western Front on DVD this week, must watch it today.
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Post by phil82 on Jul 2, 2006 15:14:42 GMT 12
We were there last month, oddly enough. We drove to see the graves of my wife's two uncles, her father's elder brothers, and unless you've been there it's difficult to comprehend. There are literally hundreds of cemeteries, some large, some small, scattered all over northern France. We found them both, in different cemeteries, lying as they have done for ninety years with some Australians. The graves are all immaculate; they look like they were placed there yesterday. Every cemetery has a book kept in an unlocked box with the names of everyone there, and space for family comments. Very moving and very humbling. One of them, John Tarleton, is in the middle here, in the front row, at Hebuterne on the Somme. He was 26. Lest We Forget  |
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Post by corsair67 on Jul 3, 2006 11:11:41 GMT 12
Colin, I can imagine that must have been a very moving experience to visit those cemeteries.
A couple of friends went to Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium, and they were overwhelmed by the sheer number (11, 953 - with 8,366 of those buried being unknown) of war dead buried in the one place.
I have a great-uncle lying in the Gezaincourt Cemetery on the Somme; he died on 30th March 1918 from wounds recieved during the German Spring Offensive, and I hope that one day I will get to visit his grave.
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