Kirkliston is a small town in West Lothian. I chanced upon it and its War Memorial, which is situated near the crossroads in the town, when I made a wrong turning exiting Dalmeny one day.

The memorial consists of a stone obelisk surmounted by a stone ball on a square pillar and bases with the square panels containing the dedication and lists of names:-

Dedication, “Erected by public subscription by the inhabitants of Kirkliston, Newbridge and Westerton districts to the memory of officers and men who fell in the Great War, 1914-1919”:-

Privates’ names for the Great War:-

Names of officers and non-commissioned officers from the Great War:-=

Names of officers and men from World War 2:-

Rhu is a village on the north bank of the River Clyde by the Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute. Its War Memorial stands in front of the churchyard, beautifully situated overlooking the entrance to the Gare Loch.

The inscription reads, “To the glory of God and in memory of the men from this parish who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War 1914-1918. And of those who fell in the war 1939-1945,” followed by World War 2 names. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Rhu Parish Church behind:-

Rhu War Memorial from the churchyard, Gare Loch behind:-

Rhu War Memorial from East. Names here are for the Great War:-

From west. Again the names are for the Great War:-

A cenotaph on a raised stone platform surrounded by a stone balustrade.

Close view. Great War names on these panels:-

Showing east and south Great War plaques:-

From below steps. The facing lower plaque reads, “They died for their country 1914-1919.” Plaques to left and right list names for World War 2. (Jedburgh Abbey to left in background):-

World War 2 names:-

Yorkshire Memorial from Essex Farm Cemetery. The memorial overlooks the Ypres-Yser canal:-

Closer View. Inscription reads “XLIX West Riding Division 1915 1918.”

Dedication, “To the memory of all ranks of the 49th West Riding Division who gave their lives for King and Country in the Great War 1914 1918.”

1915, 1916 and 1917 Battle Honours:-

1917 1918 Battle Honours:-

On the west side of the Cunard Building in Liverpool lies this Memorial dedicated to Cunard employees who died in the Great War and World War 2. A figure of Victory atop a column with a depiction of a boat extending either side of the column halfway up. “Pro Patria 1914-1918, 1939-1945”:-

As an addendum to yesterday’s busy day we watched the film They Shall Not Grow Old shown on BBC2 last night.

The colourisation of the archive black and white footage brought an immediacy to some familiar images, a more visceral appreciation of the conditions the war was fought under, a greater humanisation of its participants; bringing it home that they were exactly like us, even at a distance of one hundred years.

I only wish though, that the film’s title did not embody a misquotation of Laurence Binyon’s poem For the Fallen.

He of course did not write, “They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old,” but rather “they shall grow not old,” a more poetic rendering but also one that implies a different sort of growth, that the remembering would increase as time passed.

(I note in passing that the Lord Lieutenant of Fife made the same misquotation at Fife’s one hundredth anniversary of the Armistice Remembrance Service in Dunfermline Abbey on Friday 9^th.)

Binyon’s poem is also almost always misquoted in its next line as “nor the years condemn.” He in fact wrote, “nor the years contemn,” a stronger meaning – and one borne out by the commemorations occurring during the last four years.

I had a busy day yesterday.

Firstly I had the great honour of laying a wreath on behalf of the Community Council at the local War Memorial.

Then in the afternoon it was off to Cellardyke (where we have not-quite-yet relatives) for the Quiet Citizen’s Walk round the town past the houses of the fallen from the Great War poutsid eof which present residents were standing before joining the procession.

The walk ended up at Cellardyke Town Hall where a short talk was given on Cellardyke’s war dead. Unlike in the rest of the country most fishing town’s servicemen enlisted – or were conscripted into in the navy, their boats converted to minesweeping and anti-submarine duties and many sunk as a consequence. So it was with Cellardyke.

Actor Clive Russell who loives in the town recited Ewart Alan Mackintosh’s poem In Memoriam.

Then, in what was a moving detail, a succession of townsfolk who had been allocated a dog-tag with the name one of the dead came on to the stage to give the name and surrender the dog-tag to a total of 62.

There followed another walk to the Cellardyke (Kilrenny) War Memorial for the laying of wreaths and a piper’s lament.

Is it just me being Scottish or is there something more universal about the fittingness of the sound of the bagpipes played in memoriam?

Essex Farm Cemetery is located on the banks of the Ypres-Yser canal by the site of the Advanced Dressing Station where Lt Col John McCrae was serving as a medical officer when he wrote his famous poem “In Flanders Fields.” I have blogged about him previously in connection with the McCrae Memorial at Eilean Donan Castle in Lochalsh, Scotland.

The cemetery contains more than 1,000 graves. Unusually for a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery its Cross of Sacrifice is located right at the entrance:-

Graves from northwest:-

From southeast. Note Yorkshire Memorial on the canal bank:-

From northeast:-

From south. Again note Yorkshire Memorial (which I shall come back to):-

Graves from Yorkshire Memorial:-

Graves from north, Yorkshire Memorial to left:-

A tree trunk has grown round the gravestone of Private J MacPherson, Seaforth Highlanders, who died on 5/7/1917, aged 33:-

Symbolic of the fact they fought and died over the same ground the cemetery holds a German grave, Franz Heger, RIR, 238, 7/8/1916:-

Grave of Rifleman V J Strudwick, The Rifle Brigade, 14/1/1916, aged 15, said to be the youngest British Empire casualty of the Great War. (There may be some doubt about this.) It is nevertheless a focus for remembrance:-

John McCrae Commemoration stone. Written in four languages, French, Flemish, English and German, with the poem itself also inscribed on the memorial along with a facsimile of the handwritten manuscript:-

The bunkers at Essex Farm Cemetery where John McCrae worked as a medic:-

Bunker interior:-

Another bunker interior:-

Bunkers, looking back up to Essex Farm Cemetery grounds:-

Information board with a photograph of how the bunkers appeared during the war:-

Lest We Forget:-

One hundred years ago today, only one week before the armistice which ened the Great War, perhaps the most resonant of that war’s poets, Wilfred Owen, was killed leading his troops across the Sambre–Oise Canal.

On my trip down to Oswestry for the Challenge Cup semi-final in February I discovered his name is on the Great War Memorial inside Shrewsbury Abbey.

The Abbey:-

The War Memorial. Owen’s name is marked by a poppy:-

Closer View:-

In the Abbey grounds there is a memorial dedicted to Owen. The text in red this side reads, “Wilfred Owen Poet 18/3/1893-4/11/1918.”:-

The memorial is titled “Symmetry” and was designed by Paul De Monchaux and erected in 1993:-

Three other information stones surround the memorial. Birth and life:-

Death:-

Line of Poem:-

The memorial is in the form of a pontoon bridge. You can read more about it here.

The red writing on this side is the quote (line 40 of “Strange Meeting“) “I am the enemy you killed my friend.”

I seem not to have posted this before even though I took the photogaphs in April 2012.

Stratford-upon-Avon has two civic war memorials, one for the Great War, moved to near the river from its original location, and another for the Second World War on a wall nearby.

Great War Memorial:-

World War 2 memorial:-

This web page shows the memorials’ relative dispositions.

On another nearby wall is King Edward’s School Boat Club War Memorial – for both wars:-

Between the Great War Memorial and the Second World War Memorial lies a memorial to an individual. I’m afraid I can no longer remember whom it commemorates and the writing is too indistinct to make out when magnified.