On Remembrance Sunday by Susan Sanderson

Today in many churches there will be an act of remembrance as it is the closest Sunday to Remembrance Day. The First World War ended at 11am on 11 November 1918, Armistice Day. We remember all those affected by war and those currently serving in the armed forces. It was hoped that  WW1 (The Great War) would be the last war, but sadly that has not been the case.

A poppy for Remembrance (Author's photo)

History and politics are not my strong subjects. Local history and family history seem more accessible. Since inheriting some family papers I have been looking into my family history. I knew from childhood that my maternal grandfather had served in the army in WW1 and returned before marrying Grandma. I also knew that Dad had been in the army in WW2 and been a prisoner of war. Details of what had happened to him were not talked about in my childhood. He opened up about it more to his grandson.

Dad was captured on Crete and was marched across Europe to Austria where he worked on a farm until the end of WW2. My parents met after the war.

Mum served in the Land Army. In her later years, after the government had decided to recognise members of the Land Army and the Timber Corps with a badge, she was asked each year to lay a wreath in the church she attended. She counted as a veteran.

Mum had mentioned that one of her uncles had died in WW1. The family papers enabled me to find out about him. Charles was only 19 years old and had died of an illness rather than of a wound. He was buried in France. The Boy Scouts attended his memorial service in the village where he had lived, as he had been a ‘big drummer’ in their band. He was Grandma’s half-brother. Her mother had died young and their father remarried. His second wife’s will was very detailed. It included items such as ‘photograph of Charles’. As she had lived a very long way away from this family before her marriage, I wonder how she met my great-grandfather, who was also called Charles.

Have you found out what your ancestors did? If so, have you written up what you have discovered for other members of your family? That is a task I have yet to do.

Wars and rumours of wars are not pleasant. While preparing this post I was encouraged by reading Psalm 136 with its refrain, ‘His love endures for ever’.

Susan is a reserve blogger for MTW. She always wanted to be a writer.  In 2012 she revived her interest in writing with a blogging project to collect the kinds of sayings, which were much used in her childhood.

Susan experiments with factual writing, fiction, humour and poetry.  She does not yet have a book to her name. Her interests include words, languages, music, nature study and gardening  She has experience of the world of work, being a stay-at-home mum and an empty-nester.   She is active in her local community and Church. She and her husband live in Cumbria, where she coordinates Cumbria Christian Writers.