This entry was posted on November 11, 2021 at 9:52 am and is filed under Video. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
2 Comments on “The Green Fields of France: Eric Bogle”
My Grandfathers were so ordinary. A life of working as clerks in London, Family men, living quiet lives and saying very little. Except they were not what they appeared to be. Both had fought on the Western Front both were seriously hurt and both saw the terrible experiences of the Great War.
I knew Jack as Grandpa, a machine gunner who was blown up on Vimy Ridge right before his Regiment was destroyed on the Somme offensive. Geoffrey was my Poppa, an elite rifleman with the Kings Regiment who fought with pride at Arras before being gassed and returned home.
I loved them both dearly and remember them today for who they were. Warriors and my Grandpa and Poppa.
My father served in the navy. He enlisted the day he turned 17. His ship was sunk in the North Atlantic. He was the only survivor from his side of the ship. He spent months in Plymouth, England recuperating as they thought he might lose his legs. He didn’t.
I went to visit friends in England. My mother and father followed a week later. We booked him a hotel in The Hoe. He loved that trip.
My father never spoke about the war. I read a newspaper article about him which is how I learned about his ship.
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
November 11, 2021 at 1:19 pm
My Grandfathers were so ordinary. A life of working as clerks in London, Family men, living quiet lives and saying very little. Except they were not what they appeared to be. Both had fought on the Western Front both were seriously hurt and both saw the terrible experiences of the Great War.
I knew Jack as Grandpa, a machine gunner who was blown up on Vimy Ridge right before his Regiment was destroyed on the Somme offensive. Geoffrey was my Poppa, an elite rifleman with the Kings Regiment who fought with pride at Arras before being gassed and returned home.
I loved them both dearly and remember them today for who they were. Warriors and my Grandpa and Poppa.
November 11, 2021 at 10:54 pm
My father served in the navy. He enlisted the day he turned 17. His ship was sunk in the North Atlantic. He was the only survivor from his side of the ship. He spent months in Plymouth, England recuperating as they thought he might lose his legs. He didn’t.
I went to visit friends in England. My mother and father followed a week later. We booked him a hotel in The Hoe. He loved that trip.
My father never spoke about the war. I read a newspaper article about him which is how I learned about his ship.