A few years ago I was involved in supervising a school trip to the First World
War battlefields in France and Belgium. As well as visiting the Somme (and the
Welsh Memorial at Mametz Wood) we visited the Canadian gas Memorial and a
number of the main battlefields during a week long trip. One abiding memory is
of the Devonshire cemetery at Mametz Wood. At the start of the battle for
Mametz Wood the Devonshire Regiment emerged from their front line trench only
to be mown down by machine gun fire. 163 men were buried in the trench from
which they had emerged, with the inscription "The Devonshires Held This Trench,
They Hold It Now.
The trip ended in Belgium on Sunday 11/11.
Two of our pupils - one with special needs - were selected to lay a school
wreath of poppies at the ceremony taking place at the Menin Gate. This is a
huge covered archway inscribed with the names of over 60,000 British and
Commonwealth troops who have no known grave. I have been to this memorial
before, but nothing could prepare you for the raw emotion of this event. To say
that the air was "electric" does not do it justice. The hair on the back of
your neck started to rise, and it was just like the moment before the lightning
strike. There were many tears shed that day.
It really brought home the sacrifice made by previous generations, many of whom
were not much older than the pupils themselves , and graphically illustrated
the respect still shown today by the local population.It was a humbling
experience, I will visit again.
Regards
John Duggan,
Wales, UK
________________________________
From: Tina Manley <images@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Olympus Camera Discussion <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, 20 June 2012, 20:45
Subject: Re: [OM] Poppies
Nope. Memorial Day http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html
Tina
On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 3:33 PM, Bob Whitmire <bwhitmire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> Memorial Day? I could have sworn it was always on Armistice Day, now
> Veterans Day. Good to know someone's still doing it.
>
> --Bob
>
>
> On Jun 20, 2012, at 3:12 PM, Tina Manley wrote:
>
> > Yes, the American Legion still hands them out on Memorial Day here in
> South
> > Carolina.
>
> --
> _________________________________________________________________
> Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
> Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
> Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
>
>
>
--
Tina Manley, ASMP
www.tinamanley.com
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|