The Somme

[obmcfc]

Some people traduced you,
when duty induced you,
to answer your king and country's call,
you have shown the hun,
you can handle a gun,
brave lads from the Roe, the Bann and the Foyle

3 Cheers for The Derrys

1st July 1916

At the going down of the sun
We will remember them

 

[Burnerman]

1st July 1916.
60,000 men killed, wounded or missing on that one day alone.
For those that have no known grave, their names are engraved on the memorial at Thiepval.

John

 

[EddieM]

They will forever be remembered. God rest their souls.

 

[Infidel]

When my daughter was 15 I went on a school trip with her to the Somme, on the way over 40 or so giggly little girls on a jolly.
The history master on arrival let them wander about and then on to the War graves and repeated David Lloyd Georges speech to parliament about the casualties.
It was a very sombre and tearfull return journey,he was a very good History teacher and she still remembers it with sadness.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Untitled

• PrenticeBoyofDerry
• 1 Jul 2010
• 1

The Brave and Bold,
Rest In Peace, your memories will live forever.

 

[Shutpa]

In just over a weeks time I will be paying my sixth visit to the Thiepval Memorial and Exhibition Centre and know in advance that I will as usual, be deeply moved. Quoting from the Foreword of the Guidebook, "It was fought by men with as much right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as the rest of us...................We must remember them". I do.

 

[Blasphemous]

I have nothing but my respects to add.

 

[Burnerman]

In just over a weeks time I will be paying my sixth visit to the Thiepval Memorial and Exhibition Centre and know in advance that I will as usual, be deeply moved. Quoting from the Foreword of the Guidebook, "It was fought by men with as much right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as the rest of us...................We must remember them". I do.

I too have been to the Somme many times.
My great uncle lies in the Peronne Road cemetery, Maricourt. He was a sapper, involved in digging out the chamber that caused the Hawthorn Crater.
Beaumont Hamel is an shrine that has to be visited....a Canadian battlefield, it is headed by a statue of a caribou - a creature that doesn't abandon its wounded.
I was at the Normandy anniversary this year, but I will return to the Somme.

John

 

[conny]

RIP to every one of them, from both sides.
Brave men sent to a destiny not of their making.

 

[Shutpa]

If like me, you were unable to observe the 2 minutes silence at 11 this morning, why not do it now in the privacy of your own home?

 

[Bahco]

There was a lovely poem read out today on Radio WM which was very moving. I'm going to try and find it to share with you.

 

[Bahco]

I believe that this was written for / by someone who was about to be executed for cowardice. Please correct me if I have misunderstood.

Lovely poem though and I hope you enjoy it too..........

The Life That I Have

The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yours

The love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have
Yet death will be but a pause
For the peace of my years
In the long green grass
Will be yours and yours and yours.

 

[wreckedit]

I was born a month after the war finished and never got involved with the forces but it doesn't stop me thinking about those warriors who gave their young lives for us.
Even now, the town I'm in, the Unit is getting many losses and I think about them to. They have my highest admiration for what they do and I pray that they come to no harm.

 

[joinerjohn]

Bahco, the poem was actually written by an SOE Officer during the second world war.
The SOE were using certain poems as the keys for codes in messages sent to their agents on the continent.
SOE operative, Violette Szabo just couldn't remember the poem she had to use as the key and so this poem was memorised by her and was her personal key.
The biopic film Carve Her Name With Pride, is about Violette Szabo.

The poem was written by Leo Marks in remembrance of his girlfriend, killed in a Canadian plane crash.

 

[gregers]

on radio 2 this morning ken bruce played a song written about the war and harry patch (britains last tommy)the chap who sadly died last year,.very good song.