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[UncleUB]

I have just read this with sadness,now there are only four remaining WW1 veterans.My grandfather was one of the lucky ones to have survived the trenches,but he carried shrapnel in his leg for the rest of his life.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/7712943.stm

[Floydoid]

That is sad... I guess I must be a bit of a rarity as both my grandfathers survived the trenches of the first war.  Had they not I sure wouldn't be here now.

Makes you think doesn't it?

[kitz]

Sad


This however made me smile

He attributed his long life to a moderate consumption of alcohol.

What does one consider moderate..  If he emigrated to Aus, then moderate is a few tinnies at the barbie

[tuftedduck]

A little photo showing a handsome young member of the Military Mounted Police in Gembleux, Belgium and taken in 1917.

Note the sword.............this soldier, along with his entire regiment, was sent into action against German tanks, on horseback and using swords.
Swords against tanks................only five persons survived that attack.

The horse is "Buttercup", and the soldier is my Dad, who lived until 1978, but who never ever forgot that terrible day.

[roseway]

Gosh, that picture has some history in it TD. Amazing to think that only one generation away your father and his comrades were fighting with swords.

[scottiesmum]

What a thought provoking photo that is TD, something to treasure.    We have hubby's grandfather's stirrups from his First World War service, given to me by my mother-on-law, we treasure those too.    He survived this terrible event, and I was amazed when, together with the stirrups, I was given a large table cloth, which had been  beautifully embroidered by him. 

[tuftedduck]

Good memories, indeed, scottiesmum, and I do think that such should be passed to the next generation with a full explanation of how and why they came about.
Such an episode must not be allowed to happen again.

My Dad did not talk much of his experiences in that terrible bloodbath, but he did relive them every day of his life.
During his service in action he and his companions fought with swords, knives, bayonets and on several occasions by throwing tins of bully-beef at the foe (he could not bring himself to describe the Germans as enemies......they suffered as much as the British )

Dad always had a contempt for the officer class in that war.............to be an officer then you did not require to have any military experience, rather you were required to come from the right class, have the right school tie.
In his opinion, the supreme commander of the British Army, General Hague, was an incompetent and Dad would never refer to him by name...only as "the worst unconvicted mass murderer the world has seen"
Lions led by donkeys, right enough.
Dad always contributed to the British Legion funds and he always took an active part in Rememberance Day services and activities, but for many, many years he would not wear a poppy............not as long as the poppy fund was styled "The General Haig Fund". It was only after that name was changed did he wear one.

The Great War..........The War to end all Wars.
The damn thing was still being fought in the Balkans ten years or so ago.

Before the war, Dad wanted to study to be a lawyer.
During the war when he witnessed at first hand the extreme example of man's inhumanity to man and the absolute cruelty inflicted on the service animals, horse, dogs and mules, that when it was all over he decided to forego man and care for the animals...thus he became a vet.

[scottiesmum]

TD,  What a moving account you have given there, I've printed it out to show my hubby later.   He has, in fact we both have, a great interest in both the World Wars. The futility of it all, and as you rightly repeat  'lions led by donkeys' says it all, even to this day I think.    We have visited many sites, cemeteries and memorials to these terrible events,  Lest We Forget !     

One of our most recent visits was on our way back through France from Jersey, there is a German War Cemetery that I have passed many times, always with the intention of one day going to have a look.    It is in a most beautiful setting, surrounded  (when they are in season)  by sunflowers and is tended by one Frenchman.   The meticulous grassland covered with memorials row on row to 8300 young  German soldiers, all somebody's son.  The majority of these actually died from typhus which ravaged a POW camp in SW France.

Another  very sad memorial to match those at Caen, and the rest of Normandy in France,  Oradour Sur Glane, France,  Monte Cassino  in Italy,   Babi Yar in the Ukraine,   amongst many others, but  perhaps the most terrible sight I've ever seen Auschwitz and Birkenau.   When will we ever learn !

[chrissie]

I've read this with interest and thought the photo of TD's father very poignant, especially being told that he and his regiment fought tanks with swords!!  I can't comment much on either of the wars because thankfully I'm "too young" to know much about either, but have listened to past family members recounting their days in those times.  Sadly not much is known to me about the first world war except that my paternal grandfather was killed there and buried in Ypres.  How sad that only four veterans are left from the 1st world war, though that is amazing in itself to know they are still with us in the 21st Century.   Like TD's account regarding his father becoming a vet, that part about the inhumanity to animals is something I cannot even or do not want to contemplate, but I know it went on as did the inhumanity to man.  I have no idea why mankind has to be the way it is when so much good could come from us, but it seems the only actions it enjoys is evil, aggression and warfare.  Like Kate said, "when will we ever learn".

[Achilles Last Stand]

Plenty of interesting stuff on The Long Long Trail http://www.1914-1918.net/ and it's sister site the Great War Forum http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums I've lost many an hour in there 

[UncleUB]

Very moving photo TD,I love looking at all the old photo's.He was a very brave man and one of the 'lucky' ones to come out of a terrible war unscathed,even though the mental scars will have stayed with him for the rest of his life.
The war cemeteries in France is one of the places I want to and will visit in the near future.They look very moving on films so I can't imagine the scale and effect it must have on you visiting first hand. 

[kitz]

TD

Thank you for sharing the photo and the very interesting insight of your dads life and career.  Fasinating stuff

[tuftedduck]

@ scottiesmum.

>>>   but  perhaps the most terrible sight I've ever seen Auschwitz and Birkenau  <<<

I don't think I could go to these places.

[scottiesmum]

TD ...I never thought I would,  but I'd read a lot of books by survivors and that encouraged me to go.   We went to Colditz Castle in 1998, and were the first public visitors, we had a tour with the people who would eventually be taking visitors around !   I was  absolutely fascinated by the place and the town itself is so very pretty with this huge edifice looking down.  It was on this same trip that we went into Poland .  Most of our holidays seem to be centred around visiting memorials to various wars, it's not a morbid fascination (I don't think !) it is a real interest in the not too distant history.   Birkenau, to me, was  more startling than its near neighbour Auschwitz , even though most of the 'buildings' had been destroyed by the fleeing Germans.  I always write a chapter or two about places we've visited as an  "aide memoir " and my  last words of the chapter on these two places are   "the silence screamed".   

I would mention that we continued on through the Sudeten Highlands and enjoyed some marvellous hospitality on the way and eventually ended up in Prague, I felt we needed a lift after all the traumatic things we'd seen. 

 
Unc, I hope you do visit the War Graves and at the same time take the opportunity to go  to the Normandy Beaches, it's a fascinating and moving region.  Somewhere else you MIGHT be interested in, if you have the opportunity to go further south  is the place  I mentioned,  Oradour sur Glane,  a village not far from Limoges where in June 1944 a Panza Division of the SS entered the village and when they vacated some 5 hours later they had murdered all but 5  of the 642 inhabitants and left the village burning.  The original village is there today, with the burnt out remains of the houses and their contents and even the village doctors car,  as a memorial (and a reminder ! ).   THAT is one of the most sobering sights anyone could see.
A new village was built a few kilometres away.

Sorry if this is a bit morbid.