REMEMBERING OUR FALLEN

[Gil Boyd]

I was honoured to be asked if I would research 8 servicemen who were killed during the First World War from our small village.
This is to commemorate the men for the 100th year anniversary of the ending of this awful carnage of 1914-1918, timed for 11am on Sunday the 11th of November 2018.

In so doing I have spent many hours delving into these mens past, which was fascinating and so rewarding, but for anybody using a microfiche system in public libraries for several hours will realise, when you come out, you need to sit and rest before driving, as your vision is most definitely impaired!! (Peter L currently doing the Warminster stuff will know only too well). Its bloody hard work!!!

As November is clearly outside of the Poppy season, as part of my research to inform those members of public of these mens bravery as they drive through our village, I am currently making 8 x 400mm diameter poppies which will go on 8 lamposts as you approach our village church, and 8 lamposts as you drive away from the church, and on these large poppies will be each face, names and date of their death, to make people think on how lucky they are!

Also I have constructed a request letter which some of you might want to use locally in your own commemoration, and something which stemmed from the very moving display at the Tower Of London a couple of years ago where they made hundreds of thousands of poppies and each made to commemorate one man's life. On how to make plastic poppies from bottle bottoms.

What was interesting in one of the men I researched was. His name was Private 23/991 Edward ANNISS aged 24 when he died on the 13th November 1916 from the New Zealand Rifle Brigade of his wounds in a hospital in Oxford.

His parents who had emigrated to NZ from our village years earlier, on his death, asked for his body to be buried in our local churchyard, and indeed he is the only WW1 soldier buried there. Repatriation you will remember did not happen for British soldiers until the Falklands War in 1982, so there was no way, the Brits were going to ship his body back to NZ.

Sadly the powers that be in 1918, and for the next for 100 years stated, that because he wasn't born in the village, his name could not be engraved on our Cross of Sacrifice.

Well the good news is, that after applying at length, a committee will sit in the next two weeks to decide whether we can at last carve and place his name on it, so fingers crossed this happens.
Another lad who died, was Seaman Frederick BITTEN aged 20 who was on HMS HAWKE which was torpedoed by a German submarine on the 15th October 1914 with the loss of 525 lives, 86 of whom were young boys.

Ironically in 1912 HMS HAWKE was struck and severly damaged by RMS Olympic the sister ship to the Titanic, which many believe, because of this accident in the Solent the ships were switched over one weekend at Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, the only time both ships were in dry dock, as Lloyds wouldn't payout the full amount!! Another conspiracy story for another day I am sure!!

Anyway, cut off the base from a crinkly waterbottle, and spray it red and then stick an old metal coat hanger on the back and paint in a black dot in the centre of the poppy flower and its ready to stick in the ground, look how effective they are on mass!!

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