This year, 2024, marks the 110th anniversary of the start of The Great War, which began on the 28th July 1914. On this Armistice Day, we recall all of those brave souls lost during this conflict and all other wars, fighting heroically, to protect the deep principles of our good and civilised society.
As a funeral celebrant, I have had the real honour to write and conduct committal and celebration of life ceremonies, for many extraordinary people. I have learned of many extraordinary lives, but today, remember those departed whose lives and families were affected by war.
It is a privilege to work with those families and friends of the departed, families who confide in me and share so many personal histories, shared with pride and love and respect. One particular lady who had reached the grand age of 100. She and her sister had been rescued from certain death, when she was relocated from Mainz, Germany, at the age of 14 and sent to The Isle of Man. This was a part of the ‘Kindertransport’ programme, during the nine months prior to the onset of World War Two. Tragically, their parents, who were Jewish, were exterminated two years later by the Nazis. I had heard the term ‘Kindertransport’, but I learned much more in order to research this particular journey. Sadly, the sisters had to be seperated as they were fostered out, one to a family in Canada, and the other to Sussex.
Many others, whose funerals I have conducted, had experienced childhood affected by the Second World War, largely living under the threat of bombing by the German Luftwaffe, in London, Portsmouth and Liverpool. Some had lost parents and other relatives who had fought and died, or some who had returned deeply scarred, mentally or physically.
We Remember Them
Ronald Gittelsohn
As the rising of the sun and at its going down…
We remember them.
At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter…
We remember them.
At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring…
We remember them.
At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer…
We remember them.
At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn…
We remember them.
At the beginning of the year and when it ends…
We remember them.
When we are lost and sick at heart…
We remember them.
When we have joy we crave to share
We remember them.
When we have decisions that are difficult to make…
We remember them.
As long as we live they too will live,
for they are now a part of us…
And we remember them