The folk in a village near to ours have 'planted' their remembrance poppies and crosses in the grass under a tree in the local churchyard. I found it a beautiful and moving tribute.
On this day in 1944 (70 years ago today and a short 26 years after the Armistice was signed in 1918) my dad, Bert Martin, was living in a PoW workcamp at the cement factory of Dickerhoff & Widmann at Cossebaude, 6 miles west of Dresden.
At the conclusion of this short extract from his diaries he even gives a weather report for 11.11.44:
"Occasionally we received from the Germans an issue of Polish cigarettes called ‘Junak’. They were terrible things to smoke but not too bad when one had nothing else. Half the cigarette was a hollow tube of thin cardboard and the cigarette itself was very thin and the tobacco very loose. They looked as though they had a cigarette holder already affixed. Talking of cigarettes, I received 3 or 4 parcels each containing 200 English cigarettes from my wife whilst in Germany. They were always extremely welcome.
There was yet another cinema show in the factory, the film being called ‘Nothing but Love’. That was on Sun 5-11-44. I remember the news reel at that particular show reported a new German weapon used to tear up and destroy railway lines. That told us quite a lot as an advancing army doesn’t destroy railways.
The days grew shorter and so did our working hours. On Sat 11-11-44, there was a slight fall of snow which soon melted away as the rain came later on."
from the diaries of Bert Martin, Gunner, 67th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery, PoW 1942-45
I am so cross not getting to this yesterday. It is a lovely tribute Hazel, moving as always. Beautiful shot too, the bright 'blood' red against the green fields.
Did you watch the passing bells on BBC 1? I recorded it and watched it in one go on Monday, very sad.
Did you watch the passing bells on BBC 1? I recorded it and watched it in one go on Monday, very sad.
Claire, thank you for comments. I'm afraid I didn't see that TV program - maybe on iPlayer.....