On the 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour the UK will come to a standstill in the remembrance of all the men and women who have died in the service of this country. This year this will be on Saturday and on Sunday the national memorial ceremony will take place at the Cenotaph in London.
The wearing of poppies was started by the Royal British
Legion in 1921, but the idea of the poppy came from Dr Lt Col John McCrae of
the Canadian army after seeing the poppies growing at Ypes, Belgium. He had
just lost a close friend to the war and it inspired him to write the poem In
Flanders Fields.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47380/in-flanders-fields
Since then the poppies have been sold every year to help
support those who suffered as a result of the war. Last year the legion was able
to spend over £146 million helping veteran service personnel and their
families.
But what does remembrance day mean for genealogists. Well
for some it may just be researching someone, for others it may be their main
focus, for me it means remembering my fallen ancestors.
This is 2 of the faces of the war memorial in Thorpe St
Andrew, Norfolk. 3 members of my family are listed on there. 2 were brothers
and the other was their cousin. I wish I had pictures of them, but alas I have
no idea what they looked like.
The first to die was Corporal James Weeds on the 15 October
1914. He was in the light marine regiment serving on board HMS Hawke. The ship
was off Aberdeen along with the rest of her cruiser squadron when she was
struck by a torpedo fired by U-9 (U-boat 9). The ship capsized and of the
nearly 600 men on board only 70 survived. His name is on the naval memorial at
Chatham Naval Dock Yard as his body was never recovered. James was the cousin
of my Great Grandfather George.
The next to die was Private Frederick Weeds the brother of
the above James Weeds and thus my Great Grandfathers George’s cousin. Frederick
was in the 7th battalion of the Norfolk regiment. He died on the 12
October 1916 on the Somme in Northern France. He is remembered on the Commonwealth
War Grave Memorial at Thiepval, France along with over 72,000 other casualties.
Again his body was never recovered.
The last to die was Private James Daniel Briggs and he was
the cousin of James and Frederick Weeds and the brother of my Great Grandfather
George. He was in the 1st Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment
and he died on the 10 July 1917 during a battle with the German Marine-Korps
Flandern alongside the river Yser near Nieuport in Belgium. 260 men died during
this battle and they are remembered on the memorial in Nieuport as their bodies
were never recovered.
What makes this lose even worse is the closeness of these
men. On the 1891 census James and Frederick were living with their grandmother,
my 3 times great grandmother along with their cousin George, my great
Grandfather and their Aunt Julia my Great, Great Grandmother. I just can’t
imagine what the family went through losing 3 of their own. James and Frederick
had 9 living siblings and their father when they died. James Briggs left behind
his parents, 4 siblings and a nephew (my Grandpa). Of the 26 grandchildren of
my 3 times great Grandparents 3 died, that’s 11%. What makes it even worse is
what happened in 1942. When he died in 1916 Frederick Weeds was married with 4
children. His youngest son Bertie was a member of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment,
Royal Armoured Corps. He died on the 25th October 1942 during the
second battle of El Alamein in Egypt. He is remembered on the Alamein Memorial
as his body was never recovered. On that day the 1st Royal Tank Regiment fought
the German 15th Panzer Division and Italian Littorio Division. Over 100 tanks
were involved and by the end of the day over half were destroyed, including
Bertie’s tank.
There has been some discussion in the media as to whether or
not remembrance day and the wearing of poppies is right as some feel it
glorifies war. Well in my opinion, it is vital that we hold these ceremonies
and wear our poppies with pride. If we don’t then the deaths of the millions
who have died in war defending our country will have been in vain. Also the
money we give for our poppies helps those who have both physical and mental
scares as a result of the conflicts they served in. And remember not everyone
who dies as a result of war was fighting, they may have been innocent civilians
who died as a result of bombings.
I’ll leave you with part of a poem by Laurence Binyon
written in 1914.
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.”
