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| 'It was very hard for him': relatives remember first world war survivors | 'It was very hard for him': relatives remember first world war survivors |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Their stories will endure, safeguarded by their descendants. One hundred years after the guns fell silent on the western front, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other relatives of those who fought in the first world war will be among the 10,000-strong crowd expected to march past the Cenotaph in the People’s Procession on Remembrance Sunday. | Their stories will endure, safeguarded by their descendants. One hundred years after the guns fell silent on the western front, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other relatives of those who fought in the first world war will be among the 10,000-strong crowd expected to march past the Cenotaph in the People’s Procession on Remembrance Sunday. |
| Theresa May pays armistice tribute to killed British soldiers | Theresa May pays armistice tribute to killed British soldiers |
| Mark Rogers will march for his grandfather Lewis Rogers, a gunner who survived the war, but whose brother Bertie did not. Bertie was one of three of Rogers’s great-uncles who died in the war. “All were young men. As Lewis said: ‘There was no old men there,’” said Rogers, a maths teacher from Solihull. | Mark Rogers will march for his grandfather Lewis Rogers, a gunner who survived the war, but whose brother Bertie did not. Bertie was one of three of Rogers’s great-uncles who died in the war. “All were young men. As Lewis said: ‘There was no old men there,’” said Rogers, a maths teacher from Solihull. |
| Julia Knowles will also walk for her grandfather Arthur Hines, a signaller who survived the war and went back to France to find and marry the young French woman who captured his heart in Lille. | Julia Knowles will also walk for her grandfather Arthur Hines, a signaller who survived the war and went back to France to find and marry the young French woman who captured his heart in Lille. |
| She will have in mind a “heart-rending” letter Hines had carried all his life. It was written to him by the grieving mother of a serving comrade who did not come home, in which she consoles herself her son had “died for a great and noble cause”. | She will have in mind a “heart-rending” letter Hines had carried all his life. It was written to him by the grieving mother of a serving comrade who did not come home, in which she consoles herself her son had “died for a great and noble cause”. |
| Fighting continued up to the moment of armistice, at 11am on 11 November 1918, with some soldiers killed just minutes before hostilities officially ended. | Fighting continued up to the moment of armistice, at 11am on 11 November 1918, with some soldiers killed just minutes before hostilities officially ended. |
| To mark the centenary, the president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, will become the first German leader to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, a historic act of reconciliation. | To mark the centenary, the president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, will become the first German leader to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, a historic act of reconciliation. |
| Bells will ring across Britain and abroad after the Cenotaph service, to echo the spontaneous outpouring on 11 November 1918, and 10,000 people chosen by ballot, including the descendants of those who fought, will march past in tribute. | Bells will ring across Britain and abroad after the Cenotaph service, to echo the spontaneous outpouring on 11 November 1918, and 10,000 people chosen by ballot, including the descendants of those who fought, will march past in tribute. |
| “Now the two world wars of the last century are passing from living memory,” said Rogers. “Even this event – the People’s Procession – is driven by the fact that veterans of these wars have all but disappeared. What do we do next? Abandon the march past the Cenotaph at Whitehall, or adapt it? | “Now the two world wars of the last century are passing from living memory,” said Rogers. “Even this event – the People’s Procession – is driven by the fact that veterans of these wars have all but disappeared. What do we do next? Abandon the march past the Cenotaph at Whitehall, or adapt it? |
| “I want to march past in the place of those who used to remember their comrades who had fallen; men who knew the men who had died, and were thankful that they had survived.” | “I want to march past in the place of those who used to remember their comrades who had fallen; men who knew the men who had died, and were thankful that they had survived.” |
| His grandfather, from Crowle in Worcestershire, was one of four brothers, all of whom fought. He and Bertie both joined the Worcestershire Regiment and were posted to France in March 1915. By August 1915, Bertie was dead. | His grandfather, from Crowle in Worcestershire, was one of four brothers, all of whom fought. He and Bertie both joined the Worcestershire Regiment and were posted to France in March 1915. By August 1915, Bertie was dead. |
| Lewis Rogers would go on to survive the Somme and was shot in the ankle during the Battle of Aisne. He rarely spoke of the war, his grandson said. “He used to say: ‘If you were there, you wouldn’t want to talk about it.’” It was bad enough to have a brother killed, he said. “But then to have to come back and tell your mother about it, that was very hard for him.” | Lewis Rogers would go on to survive the Somme and was shot in the ankle during the Battle of Aisne. He rarely spoke of the war, his grandson said. “He used to say: ‘If you were there, you wouldn’t want to talk about it.’” It was bad enough to have a brother killed, he said. “But then to have to come back and tell your mother about it, that was very hard for him.” |
| Only towards the end of his life did Lewis Rogers open up, allowing his grandson to record his memories. “I asked him whether he ever thought about the many men he must have killed. He replied: ‘I suppose I did. You couldn’t miss ’em. It was like shooting into a wall of cattle.’” | Only towards the end of his life did Lewis Rogers open up, allowing his grandson to record his memories. “I asked him whether he ever thought about the many men he must have killed. He replied: ‘I suppose I did. You couldn’t miss ’em. It was like shooting into a wall of cattle.’” |
| “I think they had to sanitise it, to come to terms with it. It was just doing a job, basically,” said Rogers. | “I think they had to sanitise it, to come to terms with it. It was just doing a job, basically,” said Rogers. |
| It kindled a fascination with the war for Rogers, who researches local memorials. “Why? Because in war ordinary men do extraordinary things. War opens a window on the soul of mankind, and through that window we see him at both his best and worst.” | It kindled a fascination with the war for Rogers, who researches local memorials. “Why? Because in war ordinary men do extraordinary things. War opens a window on the soul of mankind, and through that window we see him at both his best and worst.” |
| Knowles, from Chaldon in Surrey, was so moved by the letter written to her grandfather, who was from West Ham in east London and served with D/181 Brigade in the British expeditionary force, that she recently sought out the grave of his comrade, William Munro Hutchinson, from Bolton. | Knowles, from Chaldon in Surrey, was so moved by the letter written to her grandfather, who was from West Ham in east London and served with D/181 Brigade in the British expeditionary force, that she recently sought out the grave of his comrade, William Munro Hutchinson, from Bolton. |
| The men’s friendship was forged in the war. When Hutchinson died aged 24, Hines wrote to his parents, and his comrade’s mother wrote back. | The men’s friendship was forged in the war. When Hutchinson died aged 24, Hines wrote to his parents, and his comrade’s mother wrote back. |
| “It must have meant a lot to my grandfather,” said Knowles, an operations manager at a satellite communications company. “He kept it all his life. But we knew nothing about it until my father died, and we found it in his personal effects.” | “It must have meant a lot to my grandfather,” said Knowles, an operations manager at a satellite communications company. “He kept it all his life. But we knew nothing about it until my father died, and we found it in his personal effects.” |
| Knowles will also celebrate the more “joyous” consequence of the war in that it brought her grandparents together, and the close links she retains today with her French grandmother’s family. | Knowles will also celebrate the more “joyous” consequence of the war in that it brought her grandparents together, and the close links she retains today with her French grandmother’s family. |
| “When I walk in the People’s Procession with my husband, I expect it to be a day of mixed emotions as I will be giving thanks for how my own family has evolved, while also remembering that our lives would not have been possible without the sacrifice of others like William. | “When I walk in the People’s Procession with my husband, I expect it to be a day of mixed emotions as I will be giving thanks for how my own family has evolved, while also remembering that our lives would not have been possible without the sacrifice of others like William. |
| “If you read that letter, it is heart-rending. It says that he died for a great and noble cause. If you are a parent, and you lose your son like that, and you have the courage to say ‘he died for a great and noble cause’, that is something, isn’t it?” she said. | “If you read that letter, it is heart-rending. It says that he died for a great and noble cause. If you are a parent, and you lose your son like that, and you have the courage to say ‘he died for a great and noble cause’, that is something, isn’t it?” she said. |
| Transcript of the letter | Transcript of the letter |
| Dear Mr Hines | Dear Mr Hines |
| We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your kind letter. We are all deeply touched, coming from a chum out there of our dear lad. We are deeply grateful for your eulogy to him. Yes he was one of the best, same as the Secretary of the orchestra said, his musical abilities were of a high order, and they all loved him for his pleasant, joyous disposition, his comradeship, to make everyone he came in contact with happy. It has all seemed a hideous nightmare to us all, we can scarcely realise it. It came so sudden, just after leaving us, and his last words were “I’ll come back”. Alas it was not to be. We shall have to try and fortify ourselves with the thought that he has died for a great and noble cause. The lad you mentioned did pay a visit. I am sorry I was out. He told them the circumstances how it happened. I also received a letter from the Major Com Nesham, Chaplain Doll, and I/C Flower at the Hospital, informing us of his last moments, and where he is buried : Hilibary Cemetery, Grave 6, Row 3, Plot 2, Boyelles. | We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your kind letter. We are all deeply touched, coming from a chum out there of our dear lad. We are deeply grateful for your eulogy to him. Yes he was one of the best, same as the Secretary of the orchestra said, his musical abilities were of a high order, and they all loved him for his pleasant, joyous disposition, his comradeship, to make everyone he came in contact with happy. It has all seemed a hideous nightmare to us all, we can scarcely realise it. It came so sudden, just after leaving us, and his last words were “I’ll come back”. Alas it was not to be. We shall have to try and fortify ourselves with the thought that he has died for a great and noble cause. The lad you mentioned did pay a visit. I am sorry I was out. He told them the circumstances how it happened. I also received a letter from the Major Com Nesham, Chaplain Doll, and I/C Flower at the Hospital, informing us of his last moments, and where he is buried : Hilibary Cemetery, Grave 6, Row 3, Plot 2, Boyelles. |
| Dear Friend, we sincerely hope the Battery will have the good fortune to carry on unharmed, and will soon be restored to your dear ones. Please convey our thanks and gratitude to all concerned signallers, etc. | Dear Friend, we sincerely hope the Battery will have the good fortune to carry on unharmed, and will soon be restored to your dear ones. Please convey our thanks and gratitude to all concerned signallers, etc. |
| We remain yours sincerely, Mr and Mrs Wm Hutchinson. | We remain yours sincerely, Mr and Mrs Wm Hutchinson. |
| Armistice centenary | Armistice centenary |
| First world war | First world war |
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