I have the privilege of reading this Yvan Goll poem this evening at a joint French and English Remembrance Service;

Let me lament the exodus of so many men from their time;
Let me lament the women whose warbling hearts now scream;
Every lament let me note and add to the list,
When young widows sit by lamplight mourning for husbands lost;
I hear the fair voiced children crying for their father at bedtime;
On every mantelpiece stand photographs wreathed with ivy, smiling, true to the past;
At every window stand lonely girls whose burning eyes are bright with tears;
In every garden lilies are growing, as though there’s a grave to prepare;
In every street the cars are moving more slowly, as though to a funeral;
In every city of every land you can hear the passing-bell;
In every heart there’s a single cry,
I hear it more clearly every day


It is very important that we remember ALL those that have died in conflict or as a result of conflict as well as thinking of those damaged in any way by such events, physically or mentally. We owe all of them a debt of gratitude that can never be paid.


If you wish to know more about Yvan Goll please follow this link;

https://web.viu.ca/davies/H482.WWI/p...eDead.1915.htm

Very moving words Dave. I often think of not only the sacrifice and horror that those brave soldiers faced but also of the pain and suffering of their families left behind. You cannot go through any town or small village anywhere in Europe without seeing a memorial with the names of the fallen on it all over the UK and the rest of Europe.

I have just been flicking backwards and forwards between Sky news at the London cenotaph and France 24 at the Arc de Triomphe where leaders I recognised Merkel, Trump and Putin attended, I did not recognise any senior UK representative.

I believe that David Leddington was representing the U.K.

No idea why or who he is.... it was mentioned once I think on the BBC.

They were attending our own Remembrance Day Jan.

I can't find any reference to a David Leddington as a government official.

You know, this is something that really gets me about the uk, it's as if they were the only nation who were in both of the wars. Even those on the apposite side lost family, men and boys who thought they were doing the right thing and thousands who didn't want to fight, but had no choice. It isn't the fault of the fighting soldiers, but of the governments that controls them.
The remembrance in France today was for the soldiers that died from all nations, after all that was where most of the fighting took place wasn't it?
Macron spoke of the French and German soldiers dying in France in muddy fields when I listened to the interpreter, but wasn't it also the English and their allies?
If you don't understand what I mean it's OK coz I do.

For you information:

In a historic act of reconciliation, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also laid a wreath, marking the first time that a German leader has taken part in the annual proceedings since the Cenotaph was inaugurated in 1920.

Yes Drew, I watched him do it, as it said, for the first time since it began in 1920. At the invitation of the Queen who was advised by her government.

At least most nations paid their respects, unfortunate that Trump thought it was too wet to do so yesterday to the American dead.

Pretty poor show considering the conditions all fought and died in.

Terry

We were lucky with the weather at todays local ceremony. Honoured the French WW1 dead and then eight British soldiers blown up in 1940 heading for Cherbourg.

Ray.

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