Lest We Forget.

There will be services held all over the world today to remember those who fought in the wars of the 20th Century.
3,000 years ago King David had his own remembrance service.
After one of his battles he set a precedent by saying:
"Any one who helps back home is as important as those who go to war."
Born a week after the outbreak of WW2, I would like to share my own memories of neighbors and family; some who went to war and some who stayed behind.
1) My dad, who was a baker by day and an air raid warning policeman at night.
2) My next door neighbor, Vic Hughes, who was a locomotive engineer.
3) Mr Brown across the street. A bobby.
4) His next door neighbor, Ron Tilsey, a high school teacher.
5) Neighbors at # 11 ( we were # 9 Lidget Grove in York). Morgan Day, a major in Madras, India.
6) Two doors further up. Gil Merrick. An army corporal.
7) Around the corner, Sam Pitchfork. Submariner in Battle of the Atlantic.
8) Across the street, Ron Colman. Royal Air Force mechanic.
9) Miss Wisely, Mr Holt, Mr Abbey, Mr Wilmot, Miss Waite: teachers at Poppleton Road Junior. My first school.
10) Uncle Jimmy, A Desert Rat, North Africa.
11) Uncle Oliver. WW1. Battle of the Somme.
12) My Uncle Chris, Lancaster rear-gunner, killed over France.
13) My mother and all the magnificent ladies who looked after the kids and kept the home fires burning.
Without their fight for freedom I might not be writing these words and you might not be reading them.
LEST WE FORGET

Ian.