I've enjoyed it a lot (enjoyed the research and learning, obviously not the horror of war) and this past November with the commemorations of Armistice100 a few thoughts have been swirling in my mind. In no particular order, and with no answers they include...
There has been, rightly, a lot of focus on the horrors and losses of war - but these have not focused much on those who came back injured either physically or mentally.
- I wonder if this is because when the men returned they didn't (or couldn't) talk about their experiences? We don't have their stories but the people who lost family members wanted to keep their stories alive and so we 'know' more about them...
- This also ties in with family history research - records are sealed for around 100 years in a lot of cases and so only the bare bones of survivor stories can be researched, where as there are often many more records available for the dead...
- The increase in ease of completing family history research thanks to the internet could also be a factor in this, along with the ease of visiting many of the WW1 locations...
- There is also the point that we have very few, if any, survivors from the period to talk to - even our centenarians were born as the war drew to a close and so have very few memories of the period. They also grew up in a time where feelings were more repressed and so didn't ask/find out the thoughts, feelings and experiences of their parents...
My other concern has been regarding veterans from conflicts that came after WW1. 2019 will mark the 80th anniversary of the start of WW2 and have we lost the chance to record the stories of those who fought/survived that war too as we concentrated so hard on WW1 for the past 4 years or so. I've also been surprised/annoyed by television programmes talking about the work of the Commonwealth War Graves (among other military issues) that just haven't even mentioned that the CWGC looks after graves from wars other than the Great War...
I don't have any answers to these thoughts and I am well aware that with my projects I have added to this agenda, but I hope that we have (for the most part) tried to work through the myths of the war and to tell new stories. I know that should I get to work on any similar commemoration projects for WW2 that I will certainly be paying more attention to the survivor stories.
Many of these musings have been brought into focus as I read through Neil Oliver's Not Forgotten: The Great War and our modern memory - a book that I've been dipping into over the past month and whole heartedly recommend, and that I'm pleased to report echoes some of my thoughts even if it couldn't solve my dilemmas either.
When I took mum back to the Isle of Man in 2014 for the first time since she was stationed there during WW2 we were chatting to someone on the boat, which led to mum being interviewed by the Manx Museum as part of their recording WW2 memories project. I'm so glad we went back when we did as mum was still able to remember lots of the places and talk about them. And they've now published a book which includes a page or so of her memories and a photo of her.
ReplyDeleteAnd Leeds Quakers have published a book about what some members of Carlton Hill Meeting did in WW1 in which my grandfather features as a CO working as an ambulance driver for the Friends Ambulance Unit.
It feels a bit surreal to be honest!
Sorry to take so long to get back to you - do you have the details of the book produced by the Leeds’ Quakers? I’d love to read it. Sarah
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah, I can lend you my copy if you like or it's available from Friends House
Deletehttps://bookshop.quaker.org.uk/quakers-and-the-first-world-war-conscience-and-courage-from-a-leeds-perspective_9781912728053