AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN...

…and in the morning, we will remember them.”  

Today’s photograph is Mr. HCB’s Uncle Ernest, who was killed in action on 10th July 1944.  Mr. HCB had a cutting from the local newspaper giving information about his uncle's death and he had been told by his mother that Ernest had a girlfriend, but after a lot of research into the family history, I found out that they had actually got married in 1942, so I then set about trying to discover more.

Back in 2013, I got in touch with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and they sent a photograph of Ernie's gravestone from the War Cemetery at Banneville-la-Campagne in France.  I also found out that his wife's name was Christine, and from there eventually found that she was in her nineties, still alive and living not that far from us - she had remarried twice after Ernest had been killed and had gone on to have a family. 

We got in touch with Aunty Chris then went to see her, when she told us that she had carried a photograph of Ernie in her purse - the one shown here - from the time they had first met in the early 1940s and she had never forgotten him.

Aunty Chris told us that she remembered Mr. HCB and his brother, and especially his parents, who were always very kind to her and she was very sad that they had lost touch. She said that after Ernest died, she moved away and of course, it wasn't as easy in those days to keep in touch and she couldn’t even afford to buy a stamp to send a letter to Mr. HCB’s parents.  As you can imagine, it was a very emotional meeting.

The next time we met Aunty Chris, a couple of years later, Mr. HCB was delighted when she gave him the hymn book that Ernest had used when they went to church together. However, Mr. HCB says he doesn't remember his uncle because he was born in April 1942 and by then, Ernest would have gone off to the war in France.  

In those days, and for many years afterwards, people didn't talk about the war and what happened, and Mr. HCB says he doesn’t recall his parents ever speaking about his father’s brother, Uncle Ernest,  although he heard it mentioned that Ernest’s mother, Mr. HCB’s grandmother, died of a broken heart in September 1944.   

Today, on Armistice Day, we remember Uncle Ernest and all those who died, that we might be free - we must never forget their sacrifice!

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields."
Colonel John McRae