Don’t Forget to Remember

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The war graves section of the Pershore cemetery — 41 of these men were Canadians
The war graves section of the Pershore cemetery — 41 of these men were Canadians

Yesterday was Remembrance Day — November 11th, the day we pause to think about all those who lost their lives in the two World Wars, and in Korea and all the conflicts that have happened since.

It’s also the day we assemble to thank the remaining veterans for their sacrifice, and shake the hand of those who are serving today.

When I was a child, we went to the cenotaph in my hometown to join the small ceremony. And when I moved abroad, I observed those 2 minutes of silence in my apartment or office.

But this year my wife and I flew to England, and took the train to Pershore, a small town in Worcestershire.

There are 41 Canadian airmen buried in the war graves section of the cemetery there, including my grandfather, Air Gunner Sergeant Alton O’Neil.

The grave of my grandfather, Air Gunner Sergeant Alton O'Neil
The grave of my grandfather, Air Gunner Sergeant Alton O’Neil

I have only two memories of my grandfather.

The first is a second-hand recollection. We were sitting at the kitchen table of my mother’s aunt — her father’s sister — on West Broadway Street in Montreal. Aunt Aileen was telling my mother childhood stories of her father, because my mother never knew him. He was killed soon after she was born.

I remember that we were eating green onions, picked fresh from their backyard garden and dipped in a little bowl of salt. And I remember the affectionate sound of Aunt Aileen’s voice when she spoke of him.

She said, “Alton couldn’t keep any secrets, because he talked in his sleep. Whenever he would come home from a date, my sister and I would wait until he fell asleep, and then we would question him about what happened. He always answered. And he was always shocked and embarrassed by how much we knew.”

My other memory is of a small box that my mother kept in the safety deposit vault at the Royal Bank. There was a medal, and a couple old photos, and a telegram printed on very thin paper which simply said, “Killed overseas.” There was no other information on where or how he died. And until four or five years ago, that’s all any of us knew.

We found out when my cousin Charles saw a news story about a small village in England that was naming some streets after fallen Canadian servicemen. He got in touch with local Royal Naval Association Secretary Trudy Burge, who keeps an excellent website dedicated to the war dead buried there. And he flew over for the service back in 2012.

The town has named several streets after fallen Canadian servicemen
The town has named several streets after fallen Canadian servicemen

Trudy and her father Ted Annis have done so much to care for the graves of these Canadian soldiers, and to ensure that their sacrifice and their lives are remembered.

Yesterday my wife and I attended a ceremony next to the Abbey, which was held especially for the local schoolchildren. They turned out in such a large group. And they read passages about the meaning of Remembrance Day, and laid wreaths to honour the fallen.

One of the Pershore Remembrance Day ceremonies, conducted by the local schoolchildren...
One of the Pershore Remembrance Day ceremonies, conducted by the local schoolchildren…

And then we drove over to the Pershore cemetery for the ceremony at the war graves. The local associations and many residents turned out, and a representative of the Canadian Forces was in attendance to place a wreath on behalf of our country.

Attending Remembrance Day ceremonies at Pershore cemetery...
Attending Remembrance Day ceremonies at Pershore cemetery…

I placed flowers on the memorial on behalf of the family, and a small arrangement of poppies on my grandfather’s grave.

I was also honoured to place poppies on the graves of several other Canadian airmen, on behalf of their families. Trudy Burge of the RNA makes sure that this is done each year, on November 11th and Christmas.

The cross of sacrifice at the war graves memorial
The cross of sacrifice at the war graves memorial
Laying some poppies on the grave of my grandfather, Air Gunner Sergeant Alton O'Neil
Laying some poppies on the grave of my grandfather, Air Gunner Sergeant Alton O’Neil

Afterwards, we had lunch at the club of the Royal Naval Association, and raised a glass with the fine men and women there. Several had served in Malta, and we heard stories about other times in our current home base. We heard stories about the Canadians who were based in Pershore from men who were just children at the time.

Raising a glass with the fine men and women of the Pershore Royal Naval Association
Raising a glass with the fine men and women of the Pershore Royal Naval Association

Later that afternoon, Trudy and her husband Andy drove us past the old airfield where my grandfather and these men had lived. And they took us to see the field where he died.

I felt a bit strange being in Pershore. Until then, seeing those old photographs of my grandfather was a bit like reading about a character in a book. It was difficult to connect a real person with an image of someone I’d never known.

But his narrative was given colour and context after standing beside that long row of graves with their stark white stones. Seeing the abandoned control tower at nearby RAF Pershore. And seeing the hillside where my grandfather and his crew crashed in their Wellington bomber after an engine failure sent them into a stall. The aircraft plummeted to the ground with such force that one of the engines was found years later, 9 feet deep in the hill.

The entire crew was killed on impact. And all 5 men were Canadian.

There’s a small memorial on that same hillside today, with a maple tree and a plaque with the names of all 5 airmen. And on the day we visited, local schoolchildren had left 5 crosses with poppies at the base of the stand.

The memorial and maple tree at Rowney Green, where Wellington bomber X3932 crashed
The memorial and maple tree at Rowney Green, where Wellington bomber X3932 crashed
On the day we visited, local schoolchildren had left crosses with poppies — one for each man
On the day we visited, local schoolchildren had left crosses with poppies — one for each man

When I see these war graves — all over Europe, and in far flung places like Burma — the first thing that strikes me is the age of these men. My grandfather was 28 years old when he died, and the soldier in the grave beside his was 18.

I stood there and thought about where I was and what I was doing when I was 28. I had recently finished university, and that was the year I went to Central America and then moved to Japan. My entire life was stretched out before me. But not theirs.

I also thought about people like my mother. All those families robbed of a future they should have had. Children like her who never knew their father. Wives whose husbands — sometimes married briefly, and in haste — went away to serve and never came back. Parents whose children’s lives were cut short, in their 20’s and 30’s, along with the future grandchildren they would never know.

With RNA secretary Trudy Burge, who has done so much to care for the graves of these Canadian airmen
With RNA secretary Trudy Burge, who has done so much to care for the graves of these Canadian airmen

Along with those men vanished so many memories. Books that would never be written. Inventions never brought into the world. Discoveries unmade. Futures lost, but willingly sacrificed.

I also think of those men from my hometown who went to Europe to fight. They told me that the war was the most incredible thing that would ever happen to them. They experienced immense trials, but also companionship, excitement, strange cities, love, danger, and a wider world.

And then they went back to those small towns and took up jobs as shopkeepers or salesmen. They had families and lived out their lives. But they did so knowing that the life they had lived in their twenties was the most vibrant, exciting, fully alive period they would ever experience, and that nothing like it would ever happen to them again.

No one else would understand what they had been through, either. And so they met each Friday at the local small town Legion, and they told the same stories again and again with the other veterans. But there are fewer of these men every year.

Early morning talk with BBC radio about the importance of remembrance
Early morning talk with BBC radio about the importance of remembrance

I wonder sometimes if our generation would be capable of their sort of courage?

It seems as though we’re so pampered today, that we live with such a sense of entitlement compared to their generation. Could I go off to fight, like the old man around the corner from the house where I grew up? He was a Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain. And when he returned, he went back to his life and never talked about it. It was just something you did, because it needed to be done.

We owe it to these men to remember their sacrifice — many gave their lives, others their youth, their health, or their limbs.

But Remembrance Day is not just some rote thing that we line up to do, putting our phones away out of obligation to observe that 2 minutes of silence.

We remember because these men weren’t just numbers on a list, or just one stone among a vast field of war graves. These were people who suffered. Individuals, each with their own hopes and dreams. Their loss rippled outward to families and communities, and empty places at tables. And we honour them by keeping their memory alive.

Many thanks to Trudy and the wonderful community of people who look after these graves, and conduct remembrance ceremonies here every Nov 11th and at Christmas
Many thanks to Trudy and the wonderful community of people who look after these graves, and conduct remembrance ceremonies here every Nov 11th and at Christmas

We must also remember what they did, because the job they started is far from over. They passed the baton to us, the generation who came after. And our role is to create a world where that kind of suffering and dying is no longer necessary.

These men showed us what we could be, and what we are capable of in our finest hour.

Remembering these men as individuals brings home the enormity of their sacrifice.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Photos ©Tomoko Goto 2015
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About the author

Ryan Murdock

Author of A Sunny Place for Shady People and Vagabond Dreams: Road Wisdom from Central America. Host of Personal Landscapes podcast. Editor-at-Large (Europe) for Canada's Outpost magazine. Writer at The Shift. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

18 Comments

Leave a Reply to Natalie Kilbey Cancel reply

    • Thanks Judy. Not yet – I just arrived in London this afternoon. Here for a few days, then to Barbados for meetings. Back home a week Friday.

  • Beautiful words, Ryan. Thanks for sharing your memories of your grandfather. It must have been an emotional experience being there at his grave on Remembrance Day. And the photo of the five crosses made by the local school children for the memorial was one of the most moving I’ve ever seen.

    • Thanks very much Natalie. That’s what got me a bit choked up at those sites. The flowers and poppies placed by the local people and the school children, and how sincerely they remembered and appreciated these fallen soldiers, even 70 years later.

  • Ryan

    I am so glad you were able to attend the ceremonies. I know how you feel having been there. It leaves you with an ache in your heart knowing the sacrifice these men and women made on our behalf. Your written words need to be read and passed on to future generations. Thank you.

    • Thanks very much Charles. And thank you for leading the way, and for making the contact with Trudy. Seeing the places where these events played out and where these brave people served really brings it home in a way I never felt before. It was very different reading about these events in Canada, it just felt so far away and larger than life. But being here put it into a human narrative.

  • Great piece. So glad you got to pay your respects to your grandfather. I remember your mother doing the same in Prescott each year at the local cenotaph. We truly don’t appreciate enough those who gave us our freedom.

    • Thanks Jim. I agree. I was so impressed with how involved people seemed to be here in England. Even in London, every statue and memorial we walked past in Westminster had wreaths and poppies set beside it – some by organizations, and many more from individuals.

  • Hi Ryan….such lovely and heartfelt words you have put to paper. How wonderful you and Charles were able to be in Pershore for their Remembrance ceremonies. I am sure you must have felt so much closer to the grandfather you never knew.
    I had reached out to someone in Pershore about 10 years ago to find out more about my Uncle Ernie Desjardins who had died there. Trudy was my contact and has grown very special to me over the years. She is truly dedicated to keeping the memories of the soldiers who lost their lives there….alive in her part of the world.
    I enjoy the pictures she sends every year and how nice to see you honouring my uncle at his grave and at his road sign.
    You represented you and family over their, but you also represented the rest of us who never had our love ones return back to Canada.
    God bless you and your family Ryan.
    Jill Desjardins-Brandelli

    • Hi Jill,

      Thanks very much for your kind note, and for taking the time to post. It was a really great trip, everyone we met in Pershore was so kind and welcoming, and it put a human face on a story which for me always felt like something out of a book. I was humbled to see the work Trudy has done over the years to preserve the memory of these men. And it was an honour to place the poppies this year for your uncle and the other guys, and to raise a glass to their memory and their heroism with the good men and women of the Pershore RNA.

      Best wishes to you and your family,
      Ryan

  • Thanks Ryan. I’ve often wondered about My Uncles war history. Found articles of your journey to England while looking up RCAF operations WW11 which led to many answers about Sgt O’Neil thank you. Never talked to Eileen about her brother, that would have been wonderful. My Dad Altons brother never mentioned him to us as a family, those conversations were sadly lacking in our homes on Canadian airbases.

    Heading downtown now to enjoy the veterans day parade hear in Fresno, which I will take in with a tear in my eye for my Uncle and namesake who gave up his life for his beliefs.

  • Well written. As always 🙂

    My Mother lost her Father when she was only 11 years old in 1944. He languished for years in hospital suffering the effects of Mustard gas used in WW1.

    • Thank you Deborah. What a brutal conflict the First World War was. I can’t imagine the horrors of the trenches, or the gas attacks. I wonder if we’ll ever learn, or if we’re doomed to repeat history each time subsequent generations stop remembering.

  • Ryan, that was absolutely beautiful. I cried. Those brave men who fought and died for us will be forgotten by most. We now live in a society which woudnt have the courage or wherewithal nor care to protect our lives and freedom. We are not even close to being that honorable or strong. We should be ashamed..

    BUT some will always remember and cherish those hero’s that fought and died for us. Amen to them and you as well for your deep sentiments and sharing with all of us.

    • Thank you Dana. I agree, I don’t think our society — our generation and younger — is capable of this sort of courage and self-sacrifice, obsessed as it is with identity politics, postmodernist ranting, and striking a victim stance. We need examples like these brave veterans from the two World Wars who went off to fight for the freedoms we’re enjoying today, and that we seem so determined to piss away.

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