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Re: CWGC Grave.
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 1:17 pm
by Jenks
It is one hundred years ago today 3rd November that Lance Corporal Walter Herbert smith died as a result of wounds he received in Ploogsteert woods trenches near Ypres.
I went across this morning to tidy his grave.
Lest we forget.
Re: CWGC Grave.
Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 9:46 pm
by Chuck
Good work Jenks, well done
Re: CWGC Grave.
Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 9:47 pm
by meles meles
Indeed so: well done that man.
Re: CWGC Grave.
Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 8:53 am
by Jenks
Charles Moore on the death of his great uncle one hundred years ago.I found it very moving.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/worl ... again.html
From linked article:
This column comes to you from Ypres, in Belgium. At 3.30 yesterday afternoon, three generations of our family gathered in Zwarteleen Wood, nearby, to mark the exact centenary of the death of my great-uncle, Lieutenant Gillachrist (“Gilla” or “the Gilla”) Moore, Royal Sussex Regiment, aged 20. In that place and at that moment, he was shot through the heart by a German sniper.
When he had read his dead son’s diary, Gilla’s father went for a walk on the farm at home and heard and saw a wren in the hedge: “I said to it: 'are you any relation to the wren that came into the trench to talk to my dear Gilla?”, he wrote in his own diary, “I spoke in a natural tone. The wren came on to a bough quite close to me… I looked at its head & eye & its beautifully marked grey & brown plumage & its pretty cocked up tail & it stayed a long time & then quietly went away. It seemed quite as if the bird felt with me & I expect the wren the Gilla saw behaved in the same way.”
This is a classic example of what grammarians call the pathetic fallacy – attributing human qualities to other creatures. Obviously the English wren did not feel with my great-grandfather, nor the Belgian one with poor Gilla. But that is not really the point. The point has to do with intensity of human experience and with how we try to understand our own lives.
It is sad that it takes death in war to evoke such intensity. But there it is. In Ypres yesterday, we brought some earth from that farm to scatter at the site. At 3.30pm, as if on cue, a wren sang in the yellowing wood.
On October 13th at 1400hrs next year I will be laying a wreath in a field at Auchy les Mines to mark the anniversay of my Great Uncle Williams Death. I'm guessing I will be in the company of people from Leictershire Linconshire and Staffordshire.
Jenks
Re: CWGC Grave.
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 4:42 pm
by Reedy1871
Hi all i know this is an old thread but via the power of Google i only discovered this yesterday. Walter Smith is my Great Grandfather.My mother who is still alive is rhe daughter of Walters son also called Walter.If anybody has the contact details for Jenks please message me as id like to thank him for his work on the grave
Re: CWGC Grave.
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 2:22 pm
by Polchraine
Reedy1871 wrote:Hi all i know this is an old thread but via the power of Google i only discovered this yesterday. Walter Smith is my Great Grandfather.My mother who is still alive is rhe daughter of Walters son also called Walter.If anybody has the contact details for Jenks please message me as id like to thank him for his work on the grave
Have sent a PM, no details but a couple of suggestions.
Re: CWGC Grave.
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 5:08 pm
by Ovenpaa
Will Reedy1871 be able to receive a PM as he has less than 15 posts?
Re: CWGC Grave.
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 5:59 pm
by dromia
Jenks hasn't been on here for nigh on four years so I have no idea as to the current veracity of his details or his status.
However if you wanted I could try sending him your email address with the address we have for him and say you would like to get in touch with him?
Re: CWGC Grave.
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 8:50 pm
by Reedy1871
Great news ive found him and are in contact via the power of google and airn&b!
Re: CWGC Grave.
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2020 9:59 pm
by Polchraine
Reedy1871 wrote:Great news ive found him and are in contact via the power of google and airn&b!
Great News ... And possibly the perfect day too.
Give him my regards when you speak to him. I know he took great pride in doing what he did.