We Will Remember Them...

One hundred years ago today, on the 4th August 1914 at 23:00,  Britain declared war on Germany and so plunging this country and the rest of the British Empire into a bloody conflict that lasted over four years.

I was born in 1964, 50 years after World War One began, and I was lucky enough to know my Great Grandfather, John Herbert Hayes, who survived through the war.  He died when I was 9 years old but I still have some great memories of talking to Grampy John.  However the one thing he would never talk about was his experiences during the First Wold War.  One day, just before he died, he gave me his campaign medals, but he would not talk about that time.   

My generation, and the generations that have followed, are very lucky.  The 'war to end all wars' did no such thing but since 1945 Europe has enjoyed relative peace and war between Germany, France, Great Britain, Austria, Hungary, Italy etc is unthinkable in the 21st century.

How can we understand what men, and women, like my Great Grandfather went through?  The unspeakable horrors they must have witnessed and the loss of many close friends and family.   This wasn't a video game where they could press 'reset' and everything would be back to normal.  This was real life for them and the ones who came back didn't want to talk about what they saw and did.

Today there are no veterans from the Great War still with us and it is up to us to remember their sacrifice.

My Grandmother died a few weeks ago and in her things we found a brass embossed box from 1914 that her Father had been given, along with every serving soldier and sailor, by Princess Mary, King George V's eldest daughter and Queen Elizabeth II's Aunt.  

The Princess wanted to give everyone serving a Christmas gift from her allowance.  With the number of people under arms it was deemed impractical for the Princess to fund this herself so she organised a public appeal which raised the funds to ensure that 'every Sailor afloat and every Soldier at the front' received a Christmas present. Due to the strong public support for the gift, which saw £162,591 12s 5d raised, the eligibility for the gift was widened to include every person 'wearing the King's uniform on Christmas Day 1914', about 2,620,019 servicemen and women.

There were tins for smokers and non smokers. My Great Grandfather was a smoker and his Christmas gift contained a pipe, an ounce of tobacco, a packet of cigarettes (20), a tinder lighter, a Christmas card and a picture of HRH. 

The tin my Great Grandfather was given is almost intact, with seven of the cigarettes and half of the tobacco still in the packaging.  The pipe, card and picture are in very good condition but the tinder lighter is missing.  

Also in the package is a printed bank note in French from the Ville du Havre which says the note is 'Good for One Franc' and is dated 1916.  This was obviously not part of the Princess Mary Christmas gift and is an indicator to where my Great Grandfather was at some point in 1916.  

John Hayes joined the Royal Engineers as a Sapper (private soldier) and, according to the records I found online, he was sent to France on the 9th April 1915.  In 1914 and 1915 all civilians joining the forces had to volunteer.  It wasn't until 1916 that conscription came into force in the UK.  The only other scrap of information I have is that he did serve at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, the infamous battle where the British suffered 60,000 casualties on the opening day.

All I know is that John Hayes survived the conflict and returned to his family.  My Grandmother, Joy, was born on the 28 April 1917, and her sister Marion was born in 1920.

Today is about remembering and certainly isn't a celebration. BUT we must not forget what happened 100 years ago.  The cemeteries in Flanders and France attest to the death toll on all sides.  Historians will debate the reasons for the start of the conflict and it is still taught in schools today.  Whatever the reasons a generation was almost wiped out by war.  War never solves anything and I wish today's leaders in Ukraine, the Middle East and parts of Africa would learn this very important lesson.

In 1914 Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, famously said, "The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."  

Today the Royal British Legion are inviting everyone to switch off the lights in their house at 22:00 for one hour and light a solitary candle in remembrance of the events 100 years ago today.  This is to remember everyone on both sides.

The lamps did come back on in 1918 and it is up to us to not let them go out again.

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