jsmith

Echoes of conflict 90 years on

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7712321.stm

Exhibition remembers World War I

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7637014.stm

SallyCanuck

Thank you for posting these articles.

Starting November 4, the names of all 68,000 Canadian Expeditionary Force WW1 dead are being displayed from dusk to dawn on Canada House in London and locations across Canada. You can watch online.

www.1914-1918.ca

jsmith

Thank you, SallyCanuck, for the reference. What a gracious thing for your government to do.

In 2000, we were in Brugge on the day after the (US) elections and visited Ypres and other sights including some of the cemeteries and, of course, the Menin Gate. I've had a fascination with that war since.

The following appeared on the BBC site on 29 October 2008:

The last soldiers to die in World War I - Wednesday, 29 October 2008

"Just minutes before 11am, to the north around Mons, the 25-year-old Canadian Private George Lawrence Price was on the trail of retreating German soldiers.

It was street fighting. Pte Price had just entered a cottage as the Germans left through the back. On emerging into the street he was struck by the bullet which killed him.

But Pte Price's death at 10.58 was not the last."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7696021.stm

Joseph Persico wrote "11th Month 11th Day 11th Hour - Armistice Day, 1918" (ISBN 0-375-50825-2) about the lead up to and the insanity of that day.

Jean

The first BBC article reminded me of an interesting book I read about 10 years ago about walking the battlefields. "Back to the Front" by Stephen O'Shea. It's still available through Amazon.

PalenQ

yes thanks for posting

jsmith

Unfortunately I can't change the title but here's another article with clips from the BBC.
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A look around WWI battle sites

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7717642.stm

AnselmAdorne

jsmith, thanks for the links.

We just finished a five-day tour of the Western Front in Flanders, Artois, and Picardy, following the steps of my wife's great uncle. He was an artillery major in the Great War. It has been a fascinating and deeply moving journey. We'll write up a trip report when we get back to Canada.

Anselm

laverendrye

The BBC report on Pte Ellison, the last British soldier to be killed in the Great War was quite interesting.

He is buried in St. Symphorien cemetery, just outside Mons, Belgium. Pte. Price, the last Canadian to be killed, is also buried there. Even more interesting is that this small cemetery contains the grave of Pte John Parr, killed on August 21, 1914, who is thought to be the first British casualty of the war.

As Mons was in German hands from August 1914 until November 10, 1918, the cemetery also contains a number of German graves. It is a place redolent with meaning, and very much worth visiting.

http://tinyurl.com/6jekpv

Just north of Mons, there are markers not much more than 100 metres apart which indicate where the German and British forces first encountered each other in August 1914 and where the leading elements of the Canadian Corps were at 11 am on 11 November 1918.

Anselm: I, like other Fodorites, am awaiting your trip report with great anticipation.

AnselmAdorne

laverendrye, I'll do my best.

Thanks for all of your book recommendations. I particularly valued Geoff Dyer's <i>The Missing of the Somme</i>.

AA