27/8/2023 Sacrifice and RemembranceOn 9 June we welcomed back Jeremy Prescott as our speaker. Jeremy last visited two years ago when he held us enthralled with his research into the life story of Violette Szabo. On this occasion we heard an overview of how a strategy was developed to afford dignity to those that died in times of war and to ensure that their families are able whenever possible to know where they lie. We discovered who were the main players in designing the methods of commemoration that are now so familiar to us but which had to be invented in response to the losses during the Great War. Jeremy described how it was decided and agreed that the crosses and headstones marking the graves of the dead should be identical for all irrespective of rank. The numbers of casualties in some of the conflicts that Jeremy talked about were hard to comprehend and so he also described the impact on some individual families. We understood how those left at home to raise children alone also suffered during war. Cercle members and visitors asked numerous questions which Jeremy was able to answer in detail. He also offered to help trace the grave of a relative. The photographs that Jeremy had taken on his travels were sobering and we could see the simultaneous austerity and beauty of the cemeteries that are maintained by volunteers around the world. We are grateful to Jeremy for a moving and thought provoking evening. |
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