Oh never fear, man, nought's to dread, Look not to left nor right: In all the endless road you tread There's nothing but the night.
A.E. Houseman
A war memorial in a town is, unfortunately, no great surprise, every town I've been in has one. Hartlepool, no town of any great size, has a massive one in the heart of town, Hull has one (well several really if you start to add them up 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 ... though this is not exhaustive). This is King's Lynn's sad remembrance for fallen youth in a quite splendid setting next to the Greyfriars' tower.
When I was young I noticed that the men who actually went to war, who traveled to the front in Europe, did not like to talk about their experiences. They would go to the memorial in town on Remembrance Day and possibly share tales with other vets but otherwise they kept the horrors pretty well unsaid. War was not numerous entertaining tales just waiting to be retold. War was an unspeakable hell to be avoided.
ReplyDelete