The last tommy

[beast5680]

on BBC1 , Hard to believe what these old boys went thru as 18 year olds in the First world war some grim memories but very interesting

[Disco Geordie]

makes you realise how lucky we all are in this day and age. They are all hero's

[Bob696]

I seem to remember Clarkson saying something like "just ordinary blokes doing extraordinary things"

His father in law won the VC at Arnham btw

[Bush Tucker Man]

They are all hero's

In our eyes yes they definately are, but they just thought they were doing the right thing.


 

I seem to remember Clarkson saying something like "just ordinary blokes doing extraordinary things"

His father in law won the VC at Arnham btw  

Victoria Cross.org

That was Major Robert Cain, if memory serves me correctly Francie (Clarksons wife) never knew of her fathers VC until after he died :shock:

Victoria Cross.co.uk

CAIN, Robert Henry. (reg No. 169).
Major The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers attached to The South Staffordshire Regiment /// 1st Airborne Division.
London Gazetted on 2nd November 1944.
Born on 2nd January 1909 at Shanghai, China.
Died on 2nd May 1974 at Crowborough, Sussex.
Memorial in Garrison Church, Whittington Barracks, Lichfield, Staffordshire.
Digest of Citation reads:
During the period it 19th-25th September 1944 at Arnhem, Holland, Major Cain's company was cut off from the Battalion and throughout the whole of this time was closely engaged with enemy tanks, self-propelled guns and infantry. The major was everywhere danger threatened, moving among his men and encouraging them to hold out. By his leadership he not only stopped, but demoralised the enemy attacks and although he was suffering from a perforated eardrum and multiple wounds, he refused medical attention.
Additional information:. He was elected a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives, (1951) whilst working, in West Africa ,with the Shell Oil Coy.

[dracula]

Richard, you really are the font of all knowledge :D
Remind me never to play Trivial Pursuits against you

[Sheddy]

At a club I belong to we have a meeting on the second Wednesday of November (today) every year.  We call this meeting "Poppy night".  At the meal there is traditional fare, beer on the tables and wartime songs before, after and between courses.  The food is served on tin plates, the tea and coffe in tin mugs ... the mugs are for banging on the tables!  Its a raucous meeting and damn good fun.  All the proceeds from a collection and raffle go to the R.B.L. Poppy appeal.

The point of it is this .... firstly, to remember those the fell in order that we can behave in such a manner and second, more importantly, to celebrate that we won (a point often forgotten), and that those who fell did not make the ultimate sacrifice in vain.

[Grumpy]

Compelling television, really makes you think what they went through, going over the top six times and still here to tell the tale, beyond beleif!!

[vtrdaz]

i agree - totaly compelling T.V.
Over the last couple of years the first world war has really interested me.
If you really want to see first hand what the trenches were like , i can recommend a trip to "Sanctury wood " near ypres in belgium.
It's an area of trenches that have been left exactly how they were  when the war finished - tunnels and all.
There is also really good museum there too with thousands of photographs that really brings home the horrors of that war.

[Bishops Finger]

Tank Museum at Bovingtons got some good exhibitions as well

[Siecroz]

Doing what I do for a hobby/vocation I was collecting for the RBL all weekend last week, and possibly this Saturday too depending on whether or not I have the Boy with me. And then I will be on Parade through the streets in Northampton Town Centre on Sunday morning.

I watched the last tommy last night, and it was really a moving program. Rememberance has a different meaning for everyone. For me, I remember two people. My Grandad, who although he did not die in WWII, he served and was injured in france when a german grenade threw him off an AK-AK gun position on a roof. He left the Army as a Sergeant Major. But rememberance day also is for all wars too.. A good friend of mine whom I grew up around was the first to be killed in the latest Gulf conflict.

Programs like the Last Tommy are amazing in the way that they portray average blokes and the horrors that they have to go through. During WWI they used Mustard Gas on the troops. 70 years later during the late 1980's Saddam Hussein used the same thing on the Kurds and that was classed as a war crime. The world was horrified, yet not many people are shocked at its use in WWI.

Right... going to shut up now.. incase you havent guessed already I get kinda passionate about stuff like that, and tend to go off on a tangent :)

[laser_jock99]

B*gger- sounds like I missed a good programme. It should be compulsary watching for all school children so they know the sacrafices people made to make this country what it is(was?).

What did I have on the telly instead last night? I watched all 6 episodes of Black Adder Goes Forth back-to-back. Still hillariously funny (best of the Black Adder serries IMHO) and with a very poignant ending.

Anyone interested in tracing relatives who fought in WW1 & WW2 must visit here:

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx

Here's the entry for my great grandfather who died in the closing months of the war in Iraq (or Mesopotamia as was then):

http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/certificate.aspx?casualty=865161

What galls me is that British soldiers are still fighting in Iraq even now 90 years later essentially for the same things.......oil.

[MrsMuddy]

I'm resurching my Family tree at the moment and disscovered my Great Gradfarther's Brother died in WW1. unfortunatly my Nan can't remeber that far back so I did some resurch and have found out, though the War Grave Commition where he or should I say his memorial is.

As part of my resurch I decided to look at the war diary for his regiment.....I can't really expaline how i felt readying it I'l just say i had a Good cry afterward.

As you say they are all Hero's never to be forgotten

[dracula]

I have been told that "Last Tommy" is also available as a book.

[laser_jock99]

I'm resurching my Family tree at the moment and disscovered my Great Gradfarther's Brother died in WW1. unfortunatly my Nan can't remeber that far back so I did some resurch and have found out, though the War Grave Commition where he or should I say his memorial is.

As part of my resurch I decided to look at the war diary for his regiment.....I can't really expaline how i felt readying it I'l just say i had a Good cry afterward.

As you say they are all Hero's never to be forgotten

If doing the search on CWC site you need as much information as possible (like regiment & year of death etc). A search on a common name will reveal literally hundreds if not thousands of entries. Shocking.

[Bush Tucker Man]

Richard, you really are the font of all knowledge :D
Remind me never to play Trivial Pursuits against you

:oops:  :oops:

Believe it, or not, I've only played once & lost as I seemed to get all the questions about really stupid things like f**tball :roll:
I still think it was fixed.
Only ever done one pub quiz a few years ago ...... & won £60.00 :lol:

B*gger- sounds like I missed a good programme. It should be compulsary watching for all school children so they know the sacrafices people made to make this country what it is (was?).
Couldn't agree more, but perhaps the presentation might be a bit 'stilted' for kids today

Slight digression#

The presenter is very important. There's a series running on the Discovery channel (SKY -551) at the moment.
'More Industrial Revelations', it's presented by Mark Williams; he of Fast Show fame (& apparantly a Harry Potter?? film)

Now he's the kind of guy kids will relate to, a bit like we all like to watch  Fred (Dibnah) & Adam Hart-Davies

[Andy the Landy]

Most disappointed I missed the programme :( . I used to take a lot of coach trips around the WW1 Battlefields.
The Menin Gate always used to be the highlight of the trips (if highlight is the right choice of word). Never seen so many emotional adults at 8pm every night as the last post is played. Brings a lump to my throat just thinking about it.

Mrs Muddy - a girl on one of our trips gave our guide (Neil) a peice of paper with her Great Grandfathers name and regiment on, a phone call to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and his resting place was found, took her to the cemetry and found his grave - not a dry eye on the coach

If anyone does get chance to visit, a trip to Toc H at Poperinge is a must

[Bob696]

ever since I bought a land rover I have wanted to do one of these tours
http://www.kingsheadadventures.com/default.asp?id=160

one day I will

[MrsMuddy]

Hi guy's thanks for the advice .

The reason i only know where his memorial is and not his grave is because he is in a mass grave.

He's at the Tyne Cot Memorial.
 
Died around the 26th october 1917 aged 20 in the Battel of Passchendaele

South of Houthulst officers 1 killed, 1 wounded, 1 Missing
Other Ranks 15 Killed, 180 missing just from his battalion

[beast5680]

I was lucky enough to have had a job in france for my last company that involved doing a demo to the war graves commision of a compost shredder at one of their sites, when we got to the site it was right next to the Anglo French memorial at Thiepval, once we had finished the job we had a look round, its very sombering wandering amongst the graves and reading the ages of the soldiers.
One of the problems the war graves commision had with composting was the french farmers would find old munitions in the ground and just chuck them in the compost pile for shredding :shock: it wasnt unheard of for a live artillery shell to go off as it went thru the shredder :shock:  and they told us this after we had finished

[Bush Tucker Man]

One of our Sisters goes there twice a year & now has a (2nd) home in a local village

[beast5680]

i keep going back to that area on holiday as i find it fascinating, i could go round all day looking at things but the family get bored after a while

[laser_jock99]

I don't suppose I'll ever get to visit my Great Granfather's memorial in Iraq. Looks like Sadam had it moved too....

Until 1997 the Basra Memorial was located on the main quay of the naval dockyard at Maqil, on the west bank of the Shatt-al-Arab, about 8 kilometres north of Basra. Because of the sensitivity of the site, the Memorial was moved by presidential decree. The move, carried out by the authorities in Iraq, involved a considerable amount of manpower, transport costs and sheer engineering on their part, and the Memorial has been re-erected in its entirety. The Basra Memorial is now located 32 kilometres along the road to Nasiriyah, in the middle of what was a major battleground during the first Gulf War. The Panel Numbers quoted at the end of each entry relate to the panels dedicated to the Regiment served with. In some instances where a casualty is recorded as attached to another Regiment, his name may alternatively appear within their Regimental Panels. Please refer to the on-site Memorial Register Introduction to determine the alternative panel numbers if you do not find the name within the quoted Panels.
Historical Information: The Basra Memorial bears the names of more than 40,500 members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the operations in Mesopotamia from the Autumn of 1914 to the end of August 1921 and whose graves are not known.

WW1 in Mesopotamia seems to be a forgotten part of the war. We've all heard about the Western Front & Gallipoli but I can't seem to find much information on the war in the Middle East.

EDIT- A BBC war correspondent found the Basra Memorial in 2003:

http://members.tripod.com/nlwmemorial/nlwmemorial/pages/pagesmisc/basramemorial.htm

Looks like it's crumbling into the desert.