St Pauls War Memorial, Stoneycroft.

[Spike]

http://stpaulswarmemorial.weebly.com/index.html

Now online.

Still some info to add, but plenty to see now.

[dazza]

Fine work there Spike.

I enjoyed Ian Hislop's TV look at the Memorial plaques commemorating the great war a couple of years ago. I remember him saying something like - WWI was the first time that modern warfare had killed so effectively and on such an industrial scale, inflicting damage on the body not seen until that decade. Amazing for those who fought as Pals were buried together as Pals in some foreign land. Only their names came back; on collective headstones which were cemented back into public life - on churches, the high street, the town hall, the villiage green.

The stones serve the purpose well. Never to be forgotten.

[hmtmaj]

Very well resaerched and very well put together as always, with your sites Spike.

[Ged]

Brill Spike. I thought you were retiring after the St. Anthonys one or was it before that one hee hee.

It's a dam n pity that threads like this struggle to get half a dozen replies when silly where's so and so gone or I am leaving threads get 1000 pages. That's no slur on Pabs, it could go for anybody.

[Spike]

Cheers Ged.

I am deffo going to retire from it now. Ive done 4 and the wartime memories site.

wanted to get this one in before the baby came along. Not much time then Ha Ha.

I will still be adding to these sites of course.

May do one again in the future, but not for a while.

Its hard to read through the info on these men and see their lives and how they died. So emotional at times. But well worth the effort.

Im hoping someone else fancies doing their local one. More the better. Im glad to help anyone who fancies having a go at one.

We should always remember these brave souls.

[ChrisGeorge]

http://stpaulswarmemorial.weebly.com/index.html

Now online.

Still some info to add, but plenty to see now.

Very lovely, Spike. Very well done. It is Memorial Day weekend here in the USA, as you may have gathered from one of my poetry threads, and in doing some rearranging here in our apartment, I came across a book I picked up when I gave my talk on my grandad's World War I service in the Lancashire Hussars and Lancashire Fusiliers at Fort Mifflin, Philadelphia, in Spring 2009.

Well, it is a picture book, PAASCHENDAELE: An Illustrated History. Canada's Triumph and Tragedy on the Fields of Flanders by Norman Leach.

First, what a name, Paaschendaele, besides Ypres perhaps one of the most heartbreaking episodes during the First World War, among many, many awful battles.

And what miserable conditions those men had to fight in, battlefields of mud and water and barbed wire, scarred time and time again with shell craters. Oh, that mankind will not have to see the like again.

Chris

[Spike]

Thanks Chris

It is horrific to read about it all.

I read a book about the battle of the Somme when I was younger. It reduced me to tears at times. It stills get me now.

For the last couple of years I have been reading accounts from men who were there. buying every book I could. Their stories are priceless.

[Comfortablynumb]

A few years ago when we first came to France we went to Arras then Ypres-the Menin Gate. A truly moving experience. Each night at 8 pm they play the last post and the place is always full. Standing under the arches, reading the lists of names was one of the most moving experiences of my life. It's a sobering thought that these thousands of names are not for the people buried there but for all those whose bodies were never found! We were amazed at how many children were there, brought by their young parents, and very few were British; Incidentally, the honour of playing the last post is highly sought after by bands from all over the world. That evening we were delighted to hear the Liverpool Fire Brigade perform it.

[Spike]

Thanks Comfo.

My Great Grandfather is one of those listed on the Menin Gate.

[Comfortablynumb]

You're welcome Spike There are memorial books along the walls of the gate and someone had written "I've found the Grandfather I never knew"

[Spike]

You're welcome Spike There are memorial books along the walls of the gate and someone had written "I've found the Grandfather I never knew"

So moving that is.

[Spike]

Confirmed two more men yesterday and added them to the site. They keep coming. So check in again.

[hmtmaj]

will do Spike, cheers