dug 
I normally write about Armistice day on the 11th (growing up in Paris, the 11th hour of the 11th day was always a big deal). Seems like folk are sharing on the Sunday, so I thought I’d add a thought.
Polly had four boys: Eddie; Frederick; Richard and Artie. She saw them all enlist.
Eddie and his brother Fred enlisted at the start of the war in 1914. Eddie was vaporised by artillery fire in Delville Wood on the 9th of September 1916. Polly had prints of his portrait in uniform made, dedicated them “He died that we may live” and sent them to family and (I can only imagine) friends.
This letter is one of two that surfaced in a WWI memorabilia auction a few years ago. They were written by Frederick Falby (Eddie’s brother) who was due to go over the top the following morning. He gave them to the company Padre–should he die, there was one for his Mum and one for his Dad. He never reclaimed them, and the Padre took care of them.
It seems so long ago now but these letters come down the generations. Fred went on to do well in The City and mentored my Grandad. Reading Fred’s words, the sense that he had purpose and clarity is so strong. I guess his faith guided him, but the thing that stands out so much is his sense of purpose, of duty.
There was no question whatsoever in his mind about what he had to do.
#111111 #LestWeForget #remembrancesunday