11th October 2018-11th November 2018
Geddington Roll of Honour
August 1914 : The following public service notice was issued by the Foreign Office at 12:15am
‘Owing to the summary rejection by the German Government of the request made by his Majesty’s Government for assurances that the neutrality of Belgium would be respected, His Majesty’s Ambassador in Berlin has received his passports, and His Majesty’s Government has declared to the German Government that a state of war exists between Great Britain and Germany as from 11pm on August 4th’
By 1918 the country yearned for peace. Since August 1914 men had marched from towns and villages to join pals battalions, flying squadrons and naval deployments in a patriotic flush against the Kaiser’s ambitions to control Europe. So much blood, so much bravery, so much death; after nearly five years of turbulence and destruction the world would never be the same again.
Geddington men chose to go to the war zones to ‘do their bit’; in most cases singularly unprepared for what lay ahead; some came home but carried the impact of the war horrors they experienced with them, for the rest of their lives; some did not return and remained ever youthful in the memories of their friends and families.
No-one was untouched by the events of those years between 1914 and 1918.
Over the next few weeks leading up to Armistice Day, Geddington Community Website will pay its own small tribute to those men whose names are listed on the war memorial in their memory, and in memory of those who died later of their wounds and those who gave years of their young lives to the war effort, their families and the community of Geddington. For those for whom we have photographs we will use them; for those who fell on the field of battle the Commonwealth War Graves memorial will be included.
We will remember them.
2 comments on “In Flanders Fields…”
Thank you SO much – my Great Uncle was Arthur Allett, my Grandmother’s brother.
Hello Sandra
Your great uncle is one of the 30 or more men we will be remembering. Arthur Allett’s bravery and patriotism will be told on 12 October.
The Great War, as it was first known, seems to be more poignant as each decade passes, perhaps because so many of their descendants can research their stories, once more bringing them alive again, if only briefly – but we will remember them.