Connections

One of the things I liked so much about CWxRM was that it was seeking to make personal connections with the men who died in the Ypres salient. We made a small figure, huddled, maybe in fear, or mourning, or even in comfort and peace, one figure for each casualty. We were given some documents, and when the art is installed, will be given the name our figure represents.

It's a link, small, but something we could follow up to learn a little more about the man, and his family, and the difference his death made.

As we visited many different cemeteries, museums and memorials, it became clear how much more we would feel for those with whom we felt some connection - maybe the same age as us, or one of our boys. A name of a friend. A place we knew. As we looked at Deborah the tank, we saw one of her crew was from Sneinton, not far from where we lived in Nottingham. In the Australian museum in Bullecourt, we read of a man from Knaresborough ...

The commonwealth war graves website (http://www.cwgc.org/) is a good place to find a more personal connection - there is one Blackband on their register, he flew Spitfires in WW2. I am told he was a cousin of my Father. He died before my dad was 9. He's buried in a corner of a large community cemetery in Birmingham. Not nearly as well tended as the many cemeteries in France and Belgium.

So, with fairly unusual surnames on both sides, I can reasonably confidently say, none of my relatives died in WW1. I won't be that unusual. And even those who do have relatives who died, they are increasingly remote. So how can we make a connection to the horror and waste of war? Especially for those who are policymakers and have decisions to make about how we use our armed forces now? (At a lecture last week in Cambridge, a former Chief of Defence Staff, spoke candidly about how often he had to tell politicians wanting to commit forces 'NO').

I was impressed by the Canadian system. Each year they gave University Students the opportunity of 4 months work, at one of their memorials or museums in France. A time when the future teachers, politicians, business leaders and journalists are immersed in a part of their nations history, as well as in a different culture. I wonder what difference it makes in those students, and how they react to war, rumour of war, and remembrance throughout their lives?