Mike Shimwell
New member
Just outside Arras in northern France is the small British cemetary at Duizen. Around 3,000 men lie here, who fell between 1918 and 1920. Some 2,700 British soldiers, together with Australian and other Commonwealth comrades.
It is worthy of note that war deaths were counted up to around 1920 or 1921, but that the subsequent deaths from injuries sustained during the Great War are not included in the numbers usually discussed.
Those who died in such violence now lie in a place of peace and their graves serve as a reminder to those of us who now live in freedom of the horror they faced, and that others, both solider and otherwise, still face today.
Sue's grandfather joined the British army aged around 13 or 14 and served in the Great War. He was gassed at Pashendaele in 1917 and returned home to recover. In fact his lungs bore the scars all his life and he was unable to undertake robust physical work again. He was demobbed in 1919 aged 20, barely old enough to start fighting, never mind to have fought in the trenches.
Mike
Duizen British Cemetary - over 3,000 men lie here
Care is still evidenced in flowers by the graves
The fallen of all faiths lie side by side
In memoriam
It is worthy of note that war deaths were counted up to around 1920 or 1921, but that the subsequent deaths from injuries sustained during the Great War are not included in the numbers usually discussed.
Those who died in such violence now lie in a place of peace and their graves serve as a reminder to those of us who now live in freedom of the horror they faced, and that others, both solider and otherwise, still face today.
Sue's grandfather joined the British army aged around 13 or 14 and served in the Great War. He was gassed at Pashendaele in 1917 and returned home to recover. In fact his lungs bore the scars all his life and he was unable to undertake robust physical work again. He was demobbed in 1919 aged 20, barely old enough to start fighting, never mind to have fought in the trenches.
Mike
Duizen British Cemetary - over 3,000 men lie here
Care is still evidenced in flowers by the graves
The fallen of all faiths lie side by side
In memoriam