I just watched the movie Passchendaele ... again. I highly recommend that everyone sees this. Every year at this time I go back into my family history research, and read over the war records of my great grandfather, and great uncles. If anyone here has had family involved in WWI, there is an incredible amount of information available online. You can search soldier's war records, and have copies mailed to you. You can read the diaries from the front kept by commanding officers. Reading the war diaries is a sobering thing to do, and they should be more widely read. They should be taught in schools, for that matter. It really puts things into perspective to read these.
Soldiers do not talk about what happened to them during war. We have found out so much about our family members many years later that no one knew. One of my Great Uncles was at the Battle of the Canal du Nord. The war diaries tell of how they started on day one with over 500 men, and by day three, when my great uncle was shot, they were down to about 100 men, and no officers. That's 400 dead in less than three days! He never spoke of it. This battle broke the Hindenberg Line, and started what became known as the Last Hundred Days, which was the winning of the war. He never spoke of it. He carried shrapnel in his shoulder for the rest of his life.
Today we can not imagine a war like this. We really have no idea of what sacrifice is, and how much we owe to those who give so much for us.
So take some time to remember all those soldiers past and present who put their lives on the line for us.
Soldiers do not talk about what happened to them during war. We have found out so much about our family members many years later that no one knew. One of my Great Uncles was at the Battle of the Canal du Nord. The war diaries tell of how they started on day one with over 500 men, and by day three, when my great uncle was shot, they were down to about 100 men, and no officers. That's 400 dead in less than three days! He never spoke of it. This battle broke the Hindenberg Line, and started what became known as the Last Hundred Days, which was the winning of the war. He never spoke of it. He carried shrapnel in his shoulder for the rest of his life.
Today we can not imagine a war like this. We really have no idea of what sacrifice is, and how much we owe to those who give so much for us.
So take some time to remember all those soldiers past and present who put their lives on the line for us.
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