On Armistice Day 2017, John and I had the privilege of being in Ypres, Belgium and being among the crowds thronging the Menin Gate for the Remembrance Ceremony. They had come from all over the world to pay their respects to the fallen. Later we visited the Museum and it is from a display there that I have drawn the name of this post.
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| A display in the museum at Ypres, Belgium |
The first is a member of the British Aristocracy and the brother of Charles Stewart Rolls of Rolls-Royce fame. Major Lord John M Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock, died at Boulogne in 1916 as a result of wounds received at the Battle of the Somme. His grave is in Boulogne but, along with others from the parish, he is commemorated on this memorial in the churchyard of St Cadoc's Church, at a little place called Llangattock-Vibon-Avel, Wales.
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| Major Lord John M Rolls is remembered here |
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| Sgt J G Smith, painted while still a Corporal |
Sgt John G Smith was my father-in-law. A Londoner, he served in WWII in the Rifle Brigade. My Welsh mother-in-law was a nurse and while he was away fighting Rommel in the desert, she was nursing the sick and wounded in London. She told some harrowing tales of the Blitz. She didn't see her husband for five years but he did survive the war and eventually came home safe and sound. He brought back two portraits which an Italian prisoner of war had painted for him from 2 snapshots. We still have the portraits and I would dearly love to trace the family of the Italian prisoner of war.
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| Lorraine (Finlan) Smith |
The following picture was taken after the ceremony at the Menin Gate. It shows just some of the wreaths that were laid by people from so many different countries.
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Just some of the many wreaths laid by
people from all over the world
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I decided to include this last photo just in case we forget that German mothers lost sons too.
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| "Unknown German Warrior" |
"LEST WE FORGET"
Hii nice reading your blog
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rachel. Nice to hear from you!
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