This is in memory of my Great Grandfather Michael O’Brien who gave his life at The Somme, and for my Grandfather and Great Uncle who fought side by side and came home from Passchendaele.

Remembrance

I kneel in front of the marble monument, reach out and gently run my fingers across the indentations spelling out your name, battalion and regimental number. Date of death 12 October 1916.

It is finished, my journey. It has brought me here to the resting place of the Great Grandfather I have spent eight years searching for. Through records and websites, letters and archives, at last I have found you. You were here, at the Somme, a century ago and became one of the million casualties of a bloody war. An ordinary man, a family man, but you were so much more than that.

I visited the fields where trenches were. Barley and corn grow there now, wheat-ears spring green again and it seems the gentlest landscape in the world. I wonder how it was when you were here, how you felt amidst the noise, the mud, the fear, the blood. Those who came home didn’t talk about it, couldn’t talk about it, and locked it away deep inside.

Isaac Rosenberg wrote of a small miracle when he heard birdsong one dawn at the Somme. I hope you heard it too; that it gave you a moment’s joy or reminded you of kinder times.

There is stillness and peace here and I am grateful for these headstones raised for you and your comrades. They have stood here all these years in your memory for us and for other families, war binding the living and the dead over a century and for centuries to come.

The Book of John says ‘Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends’. You gave yours rescuing comrades under heavy fire. I am proud that your blood flows in my veins and I hope that if I am ever called upon I will have your courage.

I have learned your story and I will try to tell it.

If you enjoyed this please give me some applause and see you again soon!

Thank You!