On 11/11/2011 11:09, DAVID NATTAN wrote:
On another issue, I have just stood to alert (scouts equivalent of attention)
for 2 mins in silence for Remembrance Day - bearing in mind that I am at home
alone and always feel a bit strange doing it, I just wondered if I am the only
one or do others do it ?
Dave you are not alone. Today is also my late father's birthday so it
has added poignancy for me. He was RAF just after the war and really
only talked about the japes he and the other Erks got up to. I do
remember going to Pudsey Cenotaph with him though.
I've spent a lot of the past two years researching my maternal
grandfather's time on the Somme and have come across a lot of very
interesting stories, not just about him but also about people from
Swinnow who were involved in the war. It has spurred me on to write my
first novel (watch out Chris I'm coming!). In fact I've already been
pencilling in "away weeks" when I'm staying in an isolated spot in
Arkengarthdale to settle down and write the first few chapters.
The sort of story I came across was like this:
My grandfather was in the Durham Light Infantry and was a Sergeant by
the time of the Somme but by 1917 he was only a corporal. Why I
wondered? It appears that he had taken a chicken which was destined for
the officers and fed it to his men who were near starvation. Hence his
reduction in rank. Didn't last long though and he was eventually
mentioned in dispatches for his leadership in battle conditions. He was
25, the age of my daughter.
"Has anyone seen the general? I know where he is, I know where he
is......................"
I am also piecing together the life story of a Stanningley lad who was a
sergeant from the Tank Regiment - he spent most of his life after 1919
in and out of prison for petty theft. I recently met his daughters and
their story of life as children in South London immediately after the
first war was very moving. Then they went through it all again in 39-45.
My grandfather volunteered for the International Brigades. He seemed to
like the war stuff or maybe it was his massive family that spurred him
on to take regular breaks away from them. I often think of the
International Brigades today, they too fought against fascism whilst so
many stood by and just watched.
War is never fun and I always believe that at each end of a gun is a
worker. Yes there is just cause and yes there is human sacrifice but it
always is tempered with loss of life which invariably has to be born by
those left behind.
Today our thoughts should go out to all those people who have lost
family, loved ones, good friends and close colleagues in any conflict.
Laurence Binyon's words say it all.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Betty
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PETE CASS (1962 - 2011) Rest In Peace Mate
