Poppy Day 2014

 

Photos’s from our visit last Sunday of the poppies at The Tower of London.  The fade photo of the young man with his brother is James Martin, my uncle who died in WW2 in Holland just before the end of the war, it was his 21st birthday.  This is the only photograph there is of this brave young man and he was my mothers big brother, whom she loved dearly.  The photo of his headstone was taken in Holland some 40 years ago, I have visited his grave twice and what was lovely is that families in Holland used to look after a grave of a soldier.  I’m not sure if this happens anymore, but it was wonderful being taken by the family to see the grave.

The other photos of a WW1 solider is my Mother’s father, also James Martin, he survived the war, but was shot in the leg and also gassed at the Somme he was 18 years old.  He would never speak about the war and even more so after he lost his son in WW2.  I think we should say thank you to the ones that did survived, because they went through hell to do so.   I remember my father in law, he should have been on HMS Hood, but had to go in to hospital for a small operation, all his friends, every single one of them died, he never got over it.  Another uncle was a prisoner of war in the far east and most of his friends, he watched them die in front of him slowly, until they were saved by the Americans.

So thank you to all of our armed forces –  past and present.