Remembrance Sunday: The Cenotaph

[Mo Gosfield]

It's easy to get ambivalent about all this and it wasn't until I started doing family research on Ancestry that I discovered that my great grandfather died at Passendalle in October 1917. Until then, noone remaining in the family knew anything about him. Researching his life and death 100 years on has been really moving and next year I am hoping to visit his grave at Poperinge for the anniversary. Never forget.

Indeed.
My Grandfather was on a forward advance in the First World War and found one of his brothers, lying wounded. As he bent down to attend to him, his brother assured him that he was ok and that the stretcher bearers would be out soon. His body was never found. Presumably, a shell got to him before the stretcher bearers. My Grandfather lost both of his brothers, which sadly, was not uncommon.

 

[BigBod]

What a day of mixed emotions. I marched yesterday at the Cenotaph, some great friendly banter between forces forming up on Horse Guards...Cried during the 2 minutes silence, boo'd and hissed the Military Police as they marched past us, they did chuckle, humming the dam busters when the RAF marched past us...applauded all the others that marched past us. When it was our turn to march past, I felt 10 feet tall, what a buzz from all the crowds lining the streets. Knackered today but still buzzing from the weekend.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

What a day of mixed emotions. I marched yesterday at the Cenotaph, some great friendly banter between forces forming up on Horse Guards...Cried during the 2 minutes silence, boo'd and hissed the Military Police as they marched past us, they did chuckle, humming the dam busters when the RAF marched past us...applauded all the others that marched past us. When it was our turn to march past, I felt 10 feet tall, what a buzz from all the crowds lining the streets. Knackered today but still buzzing from the weekend.

It's a real mixture of emotions. One minute you're laughing with the banter between services, and then filled with emotion seeing the WW2 veterans in their 90s, still holding their heads up high. Respect, honour, humour and tears all within a couple of hours.
It's something I'm glad I've done and will never forget.

 

[alfredmizen]

Really sorry to say I don't know exactly who he was attached to.

Like many of his Generation he really didn't want to talk about it and I never pushed it.

I know he landed at Normandy on D-Day Plus 2 and went through Europe all the way to Berlin and stayed there to early 1946

Fair enough

 

[alfredmizen]

Fourth most recent, two Paras and a Grenadier Guardsman have received them since; two sadly posthumously.

James Ashworth was the Grenadier Guardsman, I served with his dad.

 

[AmexRuislip]

It's easy to get ambivalent about all this and it wasn't until I started doing family research on Ancestry that I discovered that my great grandfather died at Passendalle in October 1917. Until then, noone remaining in the family knew anything about him. Researching his life and death 100 years on has been really moving and next year I am hoping to visit his grave at Poperinge for the anniversary. Never forget.

If you're interested for more info, you can get a wealth of information on the National Archives website.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk