11 November - Remembering: Some individual Soldiers

This last post, on our recent trip to the Somme, will end by remembering a few individual soldiers. So how do you choose out of the thousands buried in the Somme Cemeteries?

Relatives were allowed to add a personal inscription to the headstones. The British decided to charge for this as it was thought it would give the families a more personal stake in the grave (The Canadian Government paid for the inscriptions while the New Zealand Government refused to allow personal inscriptions). Most inscriptions are well known religious verses or simple messages from mum, dad, brothers and sister or wife. The following are chosen from inscriptions that caught my attention and as I have no known relative to remember, I'll remember these names:

PRIVATE J RAMSHAW: "PAUSE, OH YOU WINDS OF FRANCE AS AROUND HIS GRAVE YOU MOAN & WHISPER"

PRIVATE E.G. HENDERSON: "SOME TIME WE WILL UNDERSTAND"

PRIVATE C.T. CRACKNELL: "FROM OUR HAPPY HOME AND CIRCLE GOD HAS TAKEN ONE WE LOVED"

PRIVATE W.J. YOUNG: "THERE IS A LINK DEATH CANNOT SEVER LOVE AND REMEMBRANCE LAST FOREVER"

PRIVATE J. LIGHTON: "HE HAS GONE AND I MOURN HIS LOSS"

PRIVATE C.J. DEYKIN: "TELL ENGLAND......I DIED FOR HER AND HERE I REST CONTENT"

PRIVATE P.J. BRITTAIN: "TELL ENGLAND WE LIE HERE CONTENT"

SERJEANT A.P. COUTTS: "SOLDIER, REST THY WARFARE O'ER SLEEP THE SLEEP THAT KNOWS NO WAKING"

SECOND LIEUTENANT J.H. PARR-DUDLEY: "I FOUND YOU QUIETLY SLEEPING FAR OUT IN THE TIDES OF DARKNESS"

PRIVATE A.K. LLOYD: " GOOD-NIGHT BELOVED GOOD-NIGHT, GOOD-NIGHT"

RIFLEMAN T.E. WALTON: "JESUS, MY REST AMID EARTH'S BATTLEFIELDS"

PRIVATE E.S. WILKINSON: "ENGLAND IN THE STORM OF WAR FOUND HIM FIT TO FIGHT & DIE FOR HER"

PRIVATE A.P. SWIFT: "THE PATH OF DUTY LEADS BUT TO THE GRAVE"

SERJEANT A. ROUGH: "NOW 'A' IS DONE THAT MEN CAN DO AND 'A' IS DONE IN VAIN"

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Eastern Command Line - a lazy post

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WW1 and WW2 Defences - Suffolk and beyond

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