Soldier Record

My great uncle died at the battle of Arras on the 9/4/1917 he was 19 years old. He is buried in Ste Catherine British Cemetery just outside Arras.

My family has the bronze plaque issued to the families of the fallen of World War One and I remember asking what it was when I was small and being told his story. I was too young then to understand what war was and the sacrifice those brave young men and women made. As I grow older I understand the horror of war and the loss of a generation of brave men and women and just how awful that time must have been.

My son is the same age as Peter was when he died and I can't comprehend what it would feel like to lose him so young.

Just this evening (Armistice Day) I actually found a picture of the cemetery where he lies and I felt an huge sense of loss and a little anger that he lies so far from home and family but I am glad that his passing is marked and there is a memorial to him however far from home. That the cemetery is cared for and tended brings some comfort too.

That war still persists in this world and men and women still die in the name of freedom is awful but that they are still willing to do this fills me with immense pride and I will be forever grateful to them for giving me the chance to live as I do.

This quote is from a different war and a different theatre of war, namely Kohima in India, but it says it all for me

When You Go home, Tell Them Of Us And Say

For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.

Thank you Uncle Peter and all the others who fell and still fall in war for my today.