Lest we forget

Good evening: from France! It's a short one this week....

It's the Easter break and the husband and I are taking the opportunity to get away whilst incorporating a visit to the resting place of his Great Grandfather.

Joseph Bull Smith died aged 28 on the fields on July 5th 1917 and yet, when Husband and I walked through the headstones, we noted that he was one of the older men laying there. So many men and boys, sleeping eternally alongside Joseph in a field outside of Manancourt. What struck us as we drove over to the site, was how rural, muddy, cold and isolated the cemetery was: only God himself knows what they endured.

Manancourt itself, a small town where its residents proudly dedicated their land to the memory of those who fell, regardless of nationality as both German and English were laid to rest.

If you ever get the chance to visit such a place, do. It's breathtaking in beauty, shame and grief: at least for me.

If you don't manage to visit the War Graves in France, consider the National Memorial Arboretum outside of Burton upon Trent and share them with the young. Lest we Forget.