I lost two great uncles in WW1 and it’s hard to say, but what did we owe them? Britain wasn’t threatened unlike the following conflict where we really did owe so much to our troops.
A reasonable question. It's the very senselessness of the slaughter in WWI that makes it so important that we do remember it. The nature of remembrance has changed greatly over the last 50 years, the emphasis now being much more about the individuals involved and less about National glory.
World War I happened because tensions in Europe spiraled out of control. For sure, it was less clear cut who the bad guys were than in the second war, but we still owe a debt of gratitude for the courage and self sacrifice of those who served, and in particular those who paid the ultimate price, in the same way that we do to all our servicemen and women now. Just because our interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan were politically idiotic, it doesn't in any way belittle the bravery and suffering of our servicemen and women.
On Sunday, a couple of my French friends, (one a Captain in the French Navy) observed to me after I had laid a wreath of poppies on the grave of Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay RN, how strange it seemed that this great man, Allied Naval Commander in Chief, was buried so modestly, alongside enlisted men, with a gravestone identical to theirs. Were he such an important French figure, he would surely be in a grand tomb in the Pantheon.
I explained to them that after the first war it was decided that all the war dead would be buried together, with identical headstones of Portland stone as all men are equal in the eyes of God.
With hindsight, this seems a very far sighted decision, and an integral part of the huge changes that came about in the social order as a result of the two wars; maybe on a non-military level, this is something else we do owe the war dead.
Like all of us, my family lost people in WWI; notably my Great Great Uncle Alwyne, a recently graduated Oxford Scholar, and my Great Uncle Layton, a recently qualified doctor. My researches into their lives have left me in awe of their selflessness, and distraught at their senseless loss. I reproduce here a transcript I made of Alwyne's last letter home, before he was killed in the second battle of Ypres (the original is fairly illegible).
Edensor Vicarage Bakewell (crossed out)
Cavalry Club
119 Piccadilly, W.
February 5th 1915
I am writing this letter because I’m expecting to go out to fight again pretty soon. And after all, when one gets out there is purely a matter of luck whether one gets picked off or not; an inch may make all the difference.
My object in writing is to make some explanations concerning my Will. I’m bound to say , that since I’ve made it, I [have] forgotten exactly how I did draw it up, but there are one or two things I want to say about it.
First. I want to say I left Geof less than my other brother and sisters, because he is much richer than they are, and also he is still unmarried and therefore has less need of money than they have. This may be a very bad reason, I don’t know: still it was the reason. My point is that I don’t want him to think that I had any less regard for him than for the rest of my family.
Secondly my reason for making Rowland one of my executors was that he and Gerald are in the habit of working together in business matters: also I know that Rowland is too kind hearted to mind doing this for me. However the least I could do was to leave him small legacy for the trouble he hay be put to on my account.
Thirdly, I have left all my personal property to Chris. What I had in my mind when I put this in my Will was as follows. I have left in Chris’s house a certain amount of furniture, a few pictures etc. Mostly pretty good rubbish! However I don’t want her to have to collect all those things and put them in the common pile. On the other hand if my other sister and brothers want any of my personal belongings, I know Chris too well to doubt for one second that she will not immediately throw them at their heads! If two people want the same thing, let them draw lots for it. However I hope Chris will keep something worth having for herself or her children. I think that is all I want to say about my Will.
But changing to an entirely different subject, I should like to say that I feel, and always have felt, that I have never been able to show my appreciation of my brothers and sisters generosity since father’s death. I’ve said this now because when I’m dead they can’t possibly contradict me! Lastly I want to say that this letter is to be taken as it is written, in all seriousness. I mean every word of it. I have been meaning to write it for some time, but have only just summoned up the energy.
One more thing; I hope no one will wear black ties etc for me. “Dulce et decorum est pro patri mori” may be hackneyed, but I believe it’s the right spirit. Horace was no fool, whatever else he may have been.
Alwyne C. Hobson.
