Lest we forget.

I dont do dawn parades any more. I haven't done them for a lot of years. It's not like I don't care or remember in my own way though. I think my family has given enough to wars over the years. In the First, I lost 2 uncles & my paternal Grandmother lost her sanity on hearing that she lost 2 sons within 3 months of each other.

The second was a little more complicated for us. You see, my Dad met my Mum after he had volunteered to serve his country. They wed before Dad left as a matter of necessity. Not that he didn't try to get out of it. He chopped his trigger finger off with an axe in an endeavour to stay with Mum. It didn't work, he went anyway. The other thing he did was bring Rubella, known in those days as German Measles, home from Trentham Military camp & give it to Mum. In those days, nothing was generally known of the effects of this disease on pregnant women. They found out soon enough.

Having a physically & mentally handicapped daughter affected my mum that badly that it took a further 10 years before she could be persuaded to have another child, me. His experiences in Egypt culminated in him being invalided home in 1943 with amoebic dysentery & chronic dermatitis. Eventually, this proved a good thing for him as many of his comrades were killed or captured in the debacle that was to ensue in Greece & Crete. Dad kept hating Italians & Germans right till his last rational day. Mum never talked at all about her experiences while Dad was away. I can only imagine what it must have been like for her. Scared, pregnant with her new husband away at the war, ostracised I suspect, from her family, as she went to live with one of her brothers.

So I dont go to Dawn services. I just play these two songs a couple of times & shed a few tears in private.

So , let us remember them today, each in our own way.