Sunday WW1 Remembered...

Ordinary Lives of  the First World War

The 2018 Armistice Project seeks to commemorate the 888,246 British and Commonwealth Fallen of the First World War.

There But Not There

©John Barton

This Tommy represents John Hopkins, a member of our family, who enlisted with The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment in 1914 and was posted to France in 1915. He was wounded in action on 11th May 1916 whilst they were in the trenches at Monchy-Breton. He arrived back in the UK for treatment two weeks later, 25th May, and remained there until 18th August 1916 when he was sent back to France. He then served in France for the next two years.

John Hopkins died of heart failure on 24th January 1919 and was laid to rest in Wigan Cemetery. He was 28 years old.

13448 Private John Hopkins

Loyal North Lancashire Regiment

©John Barton

The profits from the sale of the Tommies will enable Remembered to support the following charities: 

The Royal Foundation :Heads Together, Walking With The Wounded

Combat Stress

Help for Heroes

The Commonwealth War Graves Foundation

Project Equinox: Housing Veterans

Website

Limited Edition Tommy

Twitter @Remembered2018

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Sunday WW1 Remembered...

Ordinary Lives of the First World War

This week I braved the inclement weather and headed to Salford to visit the IWM North.

©Digital Images 2018 

I had seen on breakfast television the details of the There But Not There project to commemorate the centenary ending of WW1 and hoped to be able to see for myself the 6 foot aluminum Tommy that was pictured outside the IWM. Sadly when I arrived at the museum, the Tommy was no longer on display but that didn't matter as a trip around the museum is always well worth a visit.

The Logo and commemorative Tommy are inspired by a photograph taken in WWI by official war photographer Horace Nicholls (1867-1941). 

In addition to the life-size silhouettes which will be installed across the country for November 2018, there is also a limited-edition table-top Tommy figure, which is based on the logo and which represents the 888,246 British and Commonwealth Fallen of the First World War.

There But Not There

There But Not There  will help to commemorate the end of the 1914-1918 war, and the ghostly perspex  figures will be installed around the country to remember those who didn't come home.

They should always be remembered for the sacrifices they made for all of us during this momentous time in our history.

You can donate to the There But Not There project here

You can buy your Tommy here 

The profits from the sale of the Tommies will enable Remembered to support the following charities: 

The Royal Foundation :Heads Together, Walking With The Wounded

Combat Stress

Help for Heroes

The Commonwealth War Graves Foundation

Project Equinox: Housing Veterans.

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Sunday WW1 Remembered ...Tommy Rot by John Sadler and Rosie Serdiville

The History Press
2013

This is one of my favourite reads. It's a beautiful little book interspersed with pictures, prose and verse and which shares the remarkable power of the poetry of the ordinary Tommy. It's a tribute to those extraordinary young men who so often found themselves in horrendous situations, and whose only way to survive was to make up ditties and poems to make each other laugh. Some of the poems wouldn't be considered very politically correct today but to be read in the context of the time in which they were written there is a poignancy, and so often a deep sadness, and an overwhelming cynicism contained within their words.

Some of the verses made me laugh as there is no doubt that they are a little bit naughty and meant to titillate, but there are also sharp observations about the futility of the whole sorry situation that the soldiers found themselves in, as in this anonymous outburst..

" I heard the bugles callin' an join I felt I must

Now I wish I'd let them go on blowin' till they bust !! "

Anon.

I wonder just how many of those soldiers who so readily answered Kitchener's call  wished that they hadn't been quite so quick to take up the call to arms.

I have a great deal of respect for those men who cradled themselves in the corner of a deeply dug trench and for whom every waking day was a challenge of survival. The frightening reality of duckboards deeply entrenched in oozing layers of mud. The pervading stink and slime of bodies left to decompose and fester above the parapet, and the fear, pain and uncertainty of never really knowing what the day ahead would bring. So, if the soldiers found comfort in gallows humour, in the sharing of risque ditties and saucy postcards...well, who would begrudge them that small bit of humanity in a world which  they must have, so often, thought had gone completely mad.

Most of the poems contained within this volume are not included in the celebrated canon of WW1 war poets but these simpler verses are no less powerful. The voices of the ordinary Tommy deserve to be heard.