Day 67 - Far from home

Today we pay tribute to those who were serving in the Canadian military and died while in the UK. In the UK, the traditional poppy is worn as it is in Canada, although it does have a different shape and is made of paper. The poppy boxes also offer you a choice of pin, a large fabric poppy, wrist bands and wooden crosses.

There is a Commonwealth grave section of a local graveyard in Moreton in Marsh, as Moreton was the site of a air training base during WWII. Buried within the cemetary are 12 Canadian airmen ranging in age from 19 to 33 all who died during WWII while serving from here. When we discovered this graveyard a few days ago, a man was cutting the lawn around the stones and tidying up. Someone had already been by to place Remembrance crosses.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission builds and maintains cemeteries and memorials at 23,000 locations in more than 150 countries commemorating more than 1 million burials. Since they were establishment in 1917, they have constructed 2,500 war cemeteries and plots, erected headstones over graves and where the remains are missing, inscribed the names of the dead on permanent memorials. If you'd like to check into any family members who may be buried or commemorated away outside of Canada, you can check the Commissions database.

Today, November 11th, is Armistice Day. As we do, two-minutes silence is observed  around the country. Here in Moreton in Marsh, a bugler played The Last Post, and the local Vicar read the famous stanza from Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

The bigger event is held on Remembrance Sunday (this year, that's tomorrow), when, like in Canada on November 11, people will march in parades, lay wreaths and pay their respect.

Today, Phil and I added poppies or crosses on each Canadian grave in Moreton in Marsh as our way of remembering those who died so young and so far from home. Below you will find a picture of each grave. Perhaps someone will find information about a family member.

Lest we forget.

Pilot Officer
E MC L. Tew
Navigator

Sergeant
R.F. Anderson
Pilot, Age 25
"From the plains of Texas"

Flying Officer
E. Martin
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner
Age 21 

Flight Sergeant
W.E. Douglass
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner
Age 22

Flight Sergeant
W.A. Boundy
Air Gunner, 

Sergeant
O.C. Dunn
Navigator, Age 28

Flight Sergeant
G.L. Hall
Navigator (Bomber)
Age 32

Pilot Officer
C.A. Harris
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner
Age 29

Sergeant
J.F. Duggan
Pilot, Age 19

Flight Sergeant
D. MC M. Gilmour
Air Observer, Age 23

Flying Officer
D.Y. Mc Intosh
Navigator, Age 33

Flight Sergeant
J.L. Mc Connell
Pilot, Age 22