On This Remembrance Day

"So you were David's father,
and he was your only son,
And the new-cut peats are rotting
And the work is left undone
Because of an old man weeping,
Just an old man in pain,
For David, his son David,
That will not come again.

Oh, the letters that he wrote you,
And I can see them still,
Not a word of the fighting
But just the sheep on the hill
And how you should get the crops in
Ere the year gets stormier,
And the Boches have got his body,
And I was his officer.

You were only David's father,
But I had 50 sons
When we went up in the evening
Under the arch of the guns,
And we came back at twilight -
O God! I heard them call,
To me for help and pity
That could not help at all.

Oh, never will I forget you,
My men that trusted me,
More my sons than your father's,
For they could only see
The helpless little babies
And the young men in their pride.
They could not see you dying,
And hold you while you died.

Happy and young and gallant,
They saw their first-born go,
But not the strong limbs broken
And the beautiful men brought low,
The piteous writhing bodies,
They screamed 'Don't leave me, sir,'
For they were only your fathers
But I was your officer."

E.A.Mackintosh

To the memory of three British Officers, Harold, Oswald and John - Alec's great uncles, who died in the Great War, 1914-18.

And to the memory of all the other beloved souls who gave their lives in
all conflicts, before and since. Some of which were just, some of which
ensured my freedom, for which I am deeply grateful - all of which took
somebody's fathers, sons, brothers, husbands, mothers, daughters,
sisters and wives.

As a mother, I ask you to also spare a thought, if you will, for the
mother of the three brothers, the Lady Cawley, for whom titles and
social status protected her not one jot from the agony of losing her
"three brave boys".

Read about the memorials to the three Cawley brothers/sons, and a
grandson, Alec's uncle John, also an officer, who died in WWII.

And for those that survived, my parents and grandparents and the whole of their generations, I offer now the respect that I did not, perhaps, always pay to you when you were alive.

As a teenaged child of the Sixties, I actually used to sing all the way through the two minutes silence on this Remembrance Day "because I hated war".

Oh, foolish girl. If I had only realised how much they did too - and with far greater knowledge and reason than me. How little I knew then how wise and silent they were to me - and how much I must have broken their hearts.

I am sorry - and now I remember you - in my own silence and gratitude.
It was not just the Fallen that had every right to plead......

"When you go home, Tell them of us and say: For your tomorrows, We gave
our today.

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning.....We Will Remember Them"

Comments

[Loretta]

A beautiful, loving, and touching remembrance, Roz. I could cut out the photos' faces and replace them with my own family's. Thank you for remembering for all of us.

[Fran]

Wow, Roz, this is absolutely spectacular--both historically, photographically, and narratively. As long as we remember our ancestors, they are still making a difference. Death does not end a relationship.