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Jo’s Monday Walk
Week-24
Heath Cemetery
While I traveled along the Chunnel to Lille two weeks ago
I struck up a conversation with
my wife’s cousin on Facebook.
She sent me names of three of her uncles
who perished during World War 1.
Our first stop was Heath Cemetery.
It is nice to know the French people have donated
land for War Grave Cemeteries.
However it is also sad to think that so much land
has been donated to remember the fallen.
I thought it would take all of us all day
walking around looking at headstones.
However it is far easier to find a grave than I thought and I mention that in a later post.
It took about two minutes to find
Sergeant Major Patterson’s grave.
On each grave is the soldier’s
service number, rank, name, unit,
date of their death and their age.
Sergeant Major at age 23, in this case.
I had to darken the photo to read the text.
The rose to my right makes a good
identifying marker in later shots.
Three rows back and the rose is clearly visible.
Near top right hand corner the rose is still visible
even if Sergeant Major Patterson’s grave
is just out of shot.
The verse at the bottom of each headstone is verse which each family decided to place on their relatives grave.
Looking back to the gate upon which we entered. Three rows back….
As we drove away there was still a feeling of
sadness even though I was not
related to any of them.
Such an utter waste of life.
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WoollyMuses 