November 1918

[Speedwheel]

If I should fall, greave not that one so weak and poor as I should die

Nay ' though thy heart should break, think only this,

that at dusk when the speak of the sons and brother of another one,

Then thou can'st say -

"I too had a son,

He died for Englands sake"

 

Dated November 1918.

 

Found inside the front cover of a old canal book.

 

[RLWP]

Brief internet research suggests it is Rifleman Donald S. Cox's poem "To my Mother -1916"

 

Poignant stuff, but if written in November 1918 he stood a good chance of getting out of it alive.

 

Thanks for that

 

 

Richard

 

I don't think any generation has died in such a slight, sad, way as those lads in the trenches. Always gets to me....

 

Cox's poem is in this article: Link

Edited February 2, 2010 by RLWP

[Boaty Jo]

I don't think any generation has died in such a slight, sad, way as those lads in the trenches. Always gets to me....

 

Quite agree.

An early morning cycle around Verdun last summer was unbelievably moving.

 

Around 800,000 dead - quite astonishing.

[PaddingtonBear]

An uncle of mine when through the first war, including all the 'hot' battles without getting a scratch and he died on his way home during the flu epidemic of 1919. Even sadder in some ways. His widow aged 22 never got over the loss. never remarried and took to her bed for a large portion of her life.

[Derek R.]

Widening the perspective.

 

Every cross represents a personal tragedy, in every war - present ones included, the manner of death sometimes bizarre, and the stories never ending. Such is the food for poets and authors in reaching the hearts of all who care. Why such waste, why such human tragedy.

 

The biggest travesty is that those who valiantly, and often in terror gave their lives for their country folk, are but canon fodder to feed the munitions machine that makes prosperity for the war machine. Whether it is for resources or territory, there is a power that drives governments to create propaganda campaigns of fear and alarm that makes people run to arms. And if not an immediate threat geographically, call it global terrorism, or a health pandemic - anything to keep the nation alarmed, and feeling a need for protection. Only then can governments continue to cling to their degrees of control through greed and fear - the true driving force of all - created for a purpose to be capitalised upon where lives are cheap.

 

Gaston Berthelin was a Lieutenant in the French Army during the First World War, he was betrothed to Velleda Gouté, but they decided to wait until the hostilities had ended before setting a date for marriage. November 1918 had come, and the Armistice had been signed. Gaston was looking forward to a new future, when he was shot and killed by a German sniper. Gaston's name is on the memorial cross in the village square in Ouchamps, Loir et Cher. Velleda kept all his letters sent from the front, and we have them now. She passed away in 1980. We should never forget those who gave their lives, nor should we forget or underestimate the evil that creates their loss.

 

But the dead are small in number to those whose lives are for ever after changed through psychological scars, as well as physical disabilities, THEY are the forgotten ones in the way they are so often disadvantaged, left to return to 'normal', when they have been trained to kill. Return to high street shopping, after seeing their mates blown apart beside them. Turning to violence, crime, or suicide. The dead have their names in stone. The living can be in hell. - Lest we forget.

 

Derek

Edited February 4, 2010 by Derek R.

[Donald Gilchrist]

Next time eny of you are passing through Alerwas,on the Trent & Mersy,take some time to visit the mamorial arberetom. It comemorats the people who have died in conflicts since ww2. If you have a motorcycle,look up Ride To The Wall [uk] a great but emoshanal event.