It was only when I saw the date of my last post that I realised the importance of the date. It is one of those little milestones in my personal connection with the First World War. On the 12th December 1917 one of my relatives was wounded by shellfire whilst in the trenches of the Abraham Heights sector near Passchendaele.
It was only on my most recent visit to Tyne Cot cemetary that I realised that I've looked at and indeed crossed the Abraham heights on a number of occasions. Thankfully my relative survived, unfit to continue military service and returned to his (and my) family. I think the events of that day stayed with him, not just the physical scars but the whole experience. In later years he named his house "Passchendale". This allegedly prompted a neighbour to casually comment on the beauty of the word. It would seem my great uncle very quickly set them straight.
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