The Battlefields of the First World War 100 Years On
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My wife's dad was a doughboy at 17, assigned as a cook in the USA, and sent to France. He was gassed and
this affected his health for the rest of his life. He married late, so his daughter was born when he was in his
late 40's. He was always a happy guy nonetheless, though he didn't have a big career in farm country. His
wife and her mom were the hard-working farmers. He died in his mid/late sixties after being treated at VA
hospitals for much of his life.
this affected his health for the rest of his life. He married late, so his daughter was born when he was in his
late 40's. He was always a happy guy nonetheless, though he didn't have a big career in farm country. His
wife and her mom were the hard-working farmers. He died in his mid/late sixties after being treated at VA
hospitals for much of his life.
My maternal grandfather, Tide, was at the Somme and also gassed. He was messed up the rest of his days - couldn't hold his minimum wage type jobs, randomly angry and violent, would stare into the fire for hours smoking his cheap tobacco in his cheap pipe; none of the kids knew what he was thinking until after he died, just classic PTSD. Also had tuberculosis from which he never fully recovered. I wish I'd known and bought him a nice pipe before he left for good. He never had a nice thing in his life.
Stunning photos.
Stunning photos.
Thanks for the link very interesting photos. With it being the 100th anniversary of WW1 I have been doing a lot of reading on the great war. One of our relatives was a nurse in France. I have read some of her letters, interesting to read they even have the passed stamp from the censor.
Great photos! I've always been interested in the history of old wars. World War 1 is just weird, if you think about it. It was right smack dab in the middle of a time when the world was changing technologically in big ways, but yet much of the pretechnology (for lack a of a better word right now) was still quite evident. It's strange looking at old photos where horse cavalry is next to armored cavalry, or horses are seen wearing gas masks. As a fan of movies based on past wars, I also can't help but wonder why you don't see many based in this era. The era must have been quite fascinating. Of course the era must have also been quite sad.
We passed the 100th anniversary of the Archduke's assassination on June 28, with some notice, and July 28, 1914, the beginning of actual fighting, without notice. It is a seminal event in history, far too often overlooked. Thanks for sharing. To make this pipe related, like derfatdutchman, I enjoy my pipes with books and WWI reading has occupied my time a lot this year.
Stunning pictures, Stbruno.
One of the better books on WWI I've read in the last ten years is "Back to the Front: An Accidental Historian Walks the Trenches of World War 1" by Stephen O'Shea. Very interesting read about an unusual hike some 70 years after the war ended.
Thanks again.
Fnord
One of the better books on WWI I've read in the last ten years is "Back to the Front: An Accidental Historian Walks the Trenches of World War 1" by Stephen O'Shea. Very interesting read about an unusual hike some 70 years after the war ended.
Thanks again.
Fnord
We lost a lot of family in WW1. My Father married late in life after a full trip through WW2 so I grew up with Uncles who had fought at the Somme and such other delightful holiday destinations. My Aunt Mary lost one of her brothers at Theipvalle and her house was frozen in time about circa 1917 and remained that way until her death in 1980 with copies of The Times from 1917 in the newspaper rack by the piano. My Uncle Charles was a machine gunner who survived from 1914-1918 on the Western Front which was more by luck than design. I could go and on but pick any street in the UK and you will find someone who is only one generation removed from the mud of Flanders.
@ Condor: when I went to the battlefields it was during a semester abroad study in England. One of my courses was about WW1. I was absolutely dumbfounded when we visited memorials of battles that had tens of thousands of names on them and almost entire units from one town. A real eye opener for an American kid to see. You'd see headstones with ages of 17 and 16. It left quite an impression on me. I hope to take my son someday when he's old enough to appreciate it.
My wife's Great Uncle Dick, transplanted Dutchman, last name DeHart, lived on a rice farm in S La, went to fight in WW1, was gassed , sent to England, then New York for a period of close to 2 years, no mail, family thought he had died, one August while harvesting the rice they see a tall thin soldier walking up the lane, can you imagine the joy there. He never married and my wife was his favorite, Every Sunday he would come to my wife's house when she was a girl for dinner. He and his brother smoked pipes and I would buy them each small tubs of Borkum Riff, he never talked about the war. He would let me hunt on his land which was on Vermilion River, woods full of wood ducks, he was a good man and I miss him.
Thank you for the pics . My first Sunday School teacher was a WW1 veteran and used to use examples of how scared he was fighting in France and How God protected him during these times of stress and as he put it loss of faith . At the time I did not realize the significance of who he was and what he had done . I do now . He was a good man . May all veterans of all wars who have gone on rest in peace .
Reading all of this made me think that Belgium is the ideal place to host wars. Looking back over the past several hundred years Belgium hosted some of the most horrific battles in history. Seems to me that they could have a nifty little profit center by offering the world's lunatics space to fight without messing up their own countries. Belgium has the room and experience. I should think that the catering arrangements alone would boost their economy. Have the UN ref the battle, limit of one week and then declare a winner. Everyone then goes home and lives by the decision.
Just thinking out of the box a bit.
Just thinking out of the box a bit.
There are just some places that are in a bad place geographically. Belgium and Poland come to mind historically. Belgium is flat and in an English-French-German headlock. Poland is flat and has been fodder for just about everyone. Back to WWI, we are still feeling its impact today. Most of the hotspots in our world currently come out out of how the world was configured after 1918. This event must be mandatory reading (with a pipe, if possible) for appropriate aged students. Barbara Tuchman's "Guns of August" comes to mind. If you don't learn from history you are doomed to repeat it. And, France, I'm looking at you. After the WWI, when the Germans came mostly through Belgium, you built the Maginot Line along the German border. I'm not a French basher, but that was just dumb, as the French discovered in 1940.
I remember asking my Uncle Charles about his memories of the Christmas 1914 truce. He pulled out brass Queen Mary appeal tobacco tin and rolled a cigarette. After a few moments of reflections he said 'I dug a hole in no mans land and had a cr*p without some sod firing at me. I have never had one that good since and I have never eaten bully beef and biscuits since January 1919' and that in my mind just sums up the futility of war. My Uncle always felt the war generation of 1914 had been betrayed by the politicians which led him into some pretty extreme political stances in the 1930s!
My great grandfather was in the US cavalry during the war. I'm not sure if he saw any action, but when they signed the treaty of Versailles his regiment was lined up on both sides of the boxcar. My Gran has a picture of it.
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