Sam was 24 when, on 3rd May 1917, he was making his way to the first aid tent, having received minor injuries on the frontline in the battle of the Somme. He was caught up in a bomb blast as he crossed the trenches and killed outright. “Fortunately” his body was recovered and he was laid to rest in a marked grave in the cemetery at Ecoust – St.Mien, Pas de Calais, France.
That man was my great- uncle, and the image is of the bronze memorial “plaque” that was given to his family. He had joined up at the start of the war with his older brother Archie. Their call up numbers were two digits apart, and they were on the battlefield together in the York and Lancaster Regiment.
Sam had been engaged to Nellie, and they were planning to marry when war broke out. Sadly, that was not to be. However, some four years later Archie and Ellen were married, and their first child, John was born on 8th September 1924.
John was my father, and I now play the cello that Sam had with him in France.
How many families have got similar stories to tell? My husband has got a similar memorial plaque that was given to his family in memory of his great-uncle, William.
Unfortunately, there are still families today who have lost an uncle or aunt, a brother or sister, a father or mother, a child, through wars that have been fought since, and are going on today.
That battle that took Sam’s life was part of what was called at the time, the Great War – a war to end all wars. But we know that it did not live up to that name, and people are still caught up in the battlefields around the world. We see the devastation that war brings, all too frequently, and we long for the bombs to stop, the guns to be laid down and for differences to be put aside.
Prayer: Almighty God, how many sad stories there are to tell of young lives lost. We pray for the families who are left behind grieving their loss. We remember and give thanks for the lives of those who were called up to fight in earlier wars, and those who willingly join the Armed Forces today to serve their country. We long for a time when countries and peoples are no longer at war and that peace reigns, a long lasting and enduring peace. AMEN