Historic battlefields.

The man who never was, was..

anonymous, that was the stated deal with his next of kin [see The Man Who Never Was by Ewen Montagu or more literally see the 1956 film "The Man Who Never Was."]. However his real identity has been in the public domain for some time, it is therefore interesting to see how the Commonwealth War Graves Commission have dealt with the subject.

Major William Martin Royal Marines is commemorated here, which with a minimum of fuss points you towards here.

Personally I feel it is fitting to see his part in the war effort recognised, but in this low key way.

Hat tip to Chris Harley on the Great War Forum for pointing the CWGC entries out.

International Red Cross Records

As a small experiment, and to continue some personal research, I've applied to the IRC for a search to be completed in their records of POWs from the First World War. 

It seems strange to think of the belligerent nations communicating about the fate of individuals, but a constant stream of information on soldiers' death, capture or injury has left a wealth of information for modern day researchers. These records were consulted during recent research associated with the exhumation of soldiers' remains at Fromelles, but are also accessible for individuals conducting research.

For example, William George Hollington, wounded and captured in August 1917 whilst serving with 13 Royal Irish Rifles. By chance William has a record at the National Archives in Kew, London. He is part of the 1% kept in PIN 26, a sample of true pension records, not those of WO 363 often described as such.

This stroke of luck has fleshed out the story, but it will be interesting to see:

 1. what the IRC records can add;

2. The speed of response, some members of the Great War Forum quote a wide range, 6 months being common.

When does history become, well, history?

Today Harry Patch has been laid to rest. As the last British veteran of the trench warfare of the first world war, in recent years he has come to symbolise a generation. But if this generation is now gone, has the first world war become history?

I don't profess to know the answer, after even a couple of minutes thought I find myself with more questions on what makes history, can there be a "formula" for officially categorising an event as history?

WW1 has been covered in various school curicullum, including history, for some time but does the physical break from personal to vicarious experience make our analysis of events any more valid? Or will this only occur once those that have known someone in the war have also gone?

Does history need to be a dispassionate examination of events or should/can the individual's view be paramount? Imagine discussing the Generalship of the British Army during WW1, is the historical debate more valid due to the distance in time and removal of the keys players? Or weakened by it? Some academics, Gary Sheffield springs to mind, have argued that we should now be able to take a more balanced view- but Sheffield's findings can provoke frothing at the mouth in certain quarters.

Or can history be recent events- literally just past? Go into any highstreet bookshop [in this case it was a Waterstones- other chains are available] and the recent wave of books covering soldiers' stories from Afghanistan etc sit adjacent to Harry Patch's autobiography and works on the Napleonic era.Re-enactor' groups have sprung up portraying events from much more "contemporary" history; Croatian forces and even modern day British Army [at the recent Beltring show, see WW2 talk forum for photos!].

Or is history timeless- using Harry Patch as an example, the BBC is including interviews of current soldiers within its Radio news coverage of his funeral, he made numerous TV appearances which will last on and has been written about by the poet laurete and Radiohead.

Remembrance in the 21st century

As the 90th anniversary of the armstice approaches it it interesting to see the increasingly mutli-media approach to remembrance.

The National Archives, home to countless files and documents, seems to be embracing new[ish] media with a series of podcasts starting with the story of John Mills a Quartermaster.

The BBC building on its People's War project have their remembrance site linked into religon, aimed at schools it is still an interesting, and hopefully developing, site.

More to come I hope.

Another calendar coincidence?

Raising my head, briefly, from my dissertation research I spotted the following two news stories;

First, the safe disposal of a bomb found by fishermen just off the coast of Essex is being reported by the BBC.

By coincidence this story appears on the night of the 15th/16th May which links us [just about] to:

The 65th anniversary of the "Dambusters" raid, being reported, again by the BBC, here with a short video piece here. Ok- the raid was the night of 16th/17th but I didn't see either till today, the 16th.

CWGC shoots, they score!

I've mentioned before the link between sports, remembrance and the First World War. The CWGC has launched a new mini site, "Glorydays"

Firstly, this is just a fun site but it is also educating by stealth. In my case perhaps a bit too stealthy as I didn't get full marks on the test. Maybe this approach is more appropriate for the "playstation" generation than the poetry of Owen et al.

Defying the odds

My research interests made this piece catch my eye, but it is good to hear anyway.

More British servicemen were seriously injured in Afghanistan in the first nine months of 2007 than in the whole of the rest of the present conflict.

Grim as that fact is, many of those so-called "catastrophic" wounds would have been fatal in previous wars. Even as recently as five years ago many would not have returned home alive, the head of battlefield medicine for the armed forces says.

For the full article click here

DNA

Who says that the First World War is in the past? I'm not a particularly sharp social observer, but DNA links 2 current news stories though their origins are years apart.

As widely reported, for example BBC, there are calls for all UK citizens to be on a DNA database. Bad news for civil rights? But DNA links us back to 1917. As shown here, DNA has allowed the remains of two Australian soldiers to be identified almost ninety years after their death.

The traditional methods of identification having failed its interesting to note the use of modern techniques. This once again highlights that our understanding, legacy and knowldege of the First World War is still developing.

Will this become more common? Or are only certain governments/organisations willing to take this approach. I'll be watching how the situation at Fromelles develops with interest.

Bomber's nuclear cargo error!

Ok its ouside the remit of this blog, but what a story.

From the BBC news website:

A B-52 bomber flew across the US last week mistakenly loaded with up to six nuclear-armed missiles, unnamed air force officials are quoted as saying.

The full BBC story is here

A sporting chance

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission( CWGC), or more precisely it predecessor the Imperial War Graves Commission, was established during the First World War. Then as now the young men who would make up the fighting forces had a great interest in sport. The sporting spirit of the pre war officer has often been derived, but it is interesting to note that the CWGC has chosen to use a cricket match to mark the occasion of the 90th anniversary of its founding.  More detail here.