They shall not grow old .........

[Madriverrob]

I though this might interest some members .......
At a cinema near you ( UK only) for one night only ( 16th October 2018 )

https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/peter-jackson-they-shall-not-grow-old

 

[Tony]

That would be a great history lesson for the kids, thanks for posting it up

 

[Toddy]

Oh very good

Thank you for the link

 

[oldtimer]

Thank you for this link.

I feel privileged to have shared the odd noggin of ale with a veteran of the Great War in my local in Portsmouth when I was a young man. How tales of the horrors of the Somme left a permanent impression on me: as did his courage in not allowing the traumas of his youth to undermine his belief in the humanity in us all.

I shall never forget Ted: a personification of a never to be forgotten generation.

 

[Laurentius]

I was at Tewkesbury Abbey recently looking at the roll of the fallen, and so many of them were from the same families, the impact must have been devastating.

 

[Janne]

Should be shown on tv.

Huge sacrifice was made by families on both sides of the conflict.

 

[mousey]

It says it'll be broadcast on BBC one [after being shown in cinemas. schools, and other special venues - I shall be asking my kids if they were shown it in school]

The kids did a term on WW1 and WW2 in primary school, I don't remember doing that in primary school, did go on a battlefield trip while in secondary school though.

As part of the cubs we take them up to the monument at the top of the hill and show them the names. I got them to roughly count the number of names then estimate the population of the town to give a very rough idea of the percentage of the town who were lost! We also went to the local estate house which was used as a POW camp which had names lost to an air raid.

 

[Jupiter Jean]

Hi Mousey,
Just out of interest, how many Volunteers in your village were lost & what were the Cubs estimates for overall enlistment of the village’s Volunteers?

I’ve been researching our Parish during WWI for 5 years & discovered all sorts of stories along the way.
We had 35 on the Memorial & I’ve located about 200 Volunteers, not forgetting those that volunteered with the Voluntary Aid Detachment male & female. I’ve also found some that were not on the Memorial, one because his mother wasn’t married (how cruel could people be to a grieving mother). The Parish Council are considering whether to add a few names including his.

 

[mousey]

It was a few years ago, but the monument has 8 sides with a plague on each side with maybe 25 names each so a rough 200 in total. population @ 2006 census was 3700 so we estimated 3000 [again very rough] for 1945. so 6.6% of the total population. Although overall population was most likely lower and I believe the monument has the names for both WW1 and WW2.

Estimated of 3000 population 1500 men maybe 500 of reasonable age to enlist, so 200 out of 500 starts to seem like quite a large proportion. But still as an exercise it was interesting, all pure conjecture estimated at the top of a hill with no attempt to verify numbers

 

[jimbo75]

looks awesome!

 

[Janne]

Saw it tonight.
Disappointed.

 

[John Fenna]

Saw it on TV last night - it should be part of every child's education from now on!

 

[Madriverrob]

Recorded to watch tonight .........

 

[jimbo75]

Amazing. Watch out for the documentary making of on iplayer. Peter Jacksons personal collection of memorabilia is awesome.
He even has his own ww1 aerodrome, with repro planes!
Very special to hear the veterans speaking, and touching to hear how they got on so well with the germans when they weren't fighting.
I especially liked the comment from one veteran about 'the Saxons and Bavarians warning that "the Prussians are coming"!

 

[Alan De Enfield]

Despite all of the 'war & horrors' it was the personal comments that really resonated with me :

When discussing the 'toilet trench' with the pole laid over it - the comment 'we had no toilet paper we just had to use out hand, and then as we had no water we had to be careful what we did with out hands'

I guess its something you (me) don't think about.

 

[wingstoo]

Watched it and found it both fascinating and informative, my Paternal Grandfather was taken PoW in 1918 and saw the last months of the war in Linburg PoW camp, when they woke up on the 12th November 1918 the guards had gone and the gates left open, so they walked back to friendly lines. Watching this brought it home the conditions these people went through day after day and the awful carnage they had todeal with after they came home without the same help our troops may get in more recent times.

My Grandmother received this letter after his capture...