November | December 2024 Newsletter
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.
Published: 27 October 2024
That time of year is approaching us again when we remember those fallen in battle who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms. Nancy and I will be placing the Poppies in Cuckney – some on lamp posts and some as a display in the community garden. Jackie Cuckson and Sheila Brailsford will be doing similar in Holbeck and Norton respectively.
November the eleventh falls on a Monday this year. Nancy and I will be in the community garden together with recorded last post and reveille to mark the 11 o’ clock silence. There will be a bottle of port to toast the fallen. All are warmly invited to join us – please bring your own glass……
The First World war officially ended at 11 am on the eleventh day of the eleventh month hence we have our Armistice day date and time.
The situation regarding the last soldier killed in the first world war is much more confusing – as always in war.
Officially – Henry Nicholas John Gunther was an American soldier killed on the eleventh November 1918 at 10:59 am. Henry was a bank clerk from Baltimore. George Edwin Ellison was the last British soldier killed. He died at 09:30 – sadly, shot by a sniper while out on a patrol near Mons. One can only wonder at the chain of command that decided to send out a patrol at that time in the conflict. George is buried in close proximity to John Parr; a British soldier killed 17 days after Britain declared war in 1914.
Canadian George Lawrence Price died at 10:58. The eleventh November 1918 was a Monday, it was raining by several accounts. Price was a conscript, a single man drafted in at age 24.
Of course, there are other casualties who succumbed to wounds and disease contracted pre- Armistice who died after the eleventh hour.
Moving forward to another war, another century. I had been in Afghanistan for 3 days when the call came in – gunshot wound to the chest. As part of the Medical Emergency Response Team, we ran to the waiting Chinook. As we donned body armour, the engines started and we taxied to get airborne. Two Apache gunships – call sign Ugly were sent to escort us to the area.
In flight – an update; ‘…..patient not breathing…’. We knew that this progression was extremely bad. Sadly, that young man succumbed to his injuries despite our efforts and those of the medical team in the hospital at Bastion. That mission was close to Remembrance day and it is that young soldier who I always think of specifically.
The Royal British Legion carries out remarkable work to support service men and women and / or the families of the bereaved or injured. They rely on donations and the annual poppy appeal is a key element of their fund raising. Please give whatever you can.
Cllr Kelvin Wright (Col Retd late RAMC))
For our tomorrow, they gave their today……..
