That is for ever
Niue
America
Czech(From the Soldier by Rupert Brooke) These gravestones are this week's Wordless Wednesday entry.
The first photo shows the grave stones of four WWI volunteers from the Pacific island of Niue who served on the Western Front and who died in 1916 at the New Zealand Convalescent Hospital in Hornchurch. This earlier post tells their story.
Raimund Sanders Draper was an American pilot serving in the RAF. He sacrificed his life rather than crash his Spitfire into a Hornchurch school. The school's name was changed from Suttons to Sanders Draper in the 1970s. This post from last year provides more information about "Smudge" Draper.
I know nothing about Elzalel Konvalina except that he would have served with the RAF's 313 (Czech ) Squadron which was based at RAF Hornchurch at the time.
All of these men are buried in or near St Andrew's Church in Hornchurch. All of them gave their lives frighting in wars far away from home.
The first photo shows the grave stones of four WWI volunteers from the Pacific island of Niue who served on the Western Front and who died in 1916 at the New Zealand Convalescent Hospital in Hornchurch. This earlier post tells their story.
Raimund Sanders Draper was an American pilot serving in the RAF. He sacrificed his life rather than crash his Spitfire into a Hornchurch school. The school's name was changed from Suttons to Sanders Draper in the 1970s. This post from last year provides more information about "Smudge" Draper.
I know nothing about Elzalel Konvalina except that he would have served with the RAF's 313 (Czech ) Squadron which was based at RAF Hornchurch at the time.
All of these men are buried in or near St Andrew's Church in Hornchurch. All of them gave their lives frighting in wars far away from home.
they are our heroes ...
ReplyDeletelove the photo treatment!
happy WW
An amazing tribute. Our fallen deserve our respect and honor.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Happy WW!
What a nice tribute, and what moving photos for Wordless Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteShirley
Choosing Voluntary Simplicity
very powerful photos. Thanks for sharing those, Jams. have a great Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteWhat a moving post.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post, very moving. Wonderful photos.
ReplyDeleteThe sight of them always makes me sad, such little stones all in a row.
ReplyDeleteI'll never forget the time when I managed to get a picture of a relative's grave in Libya from WW2. It was the first time any of us had 'visited' for obvious reasons in 60 years. They cried.
How good of you to honor these 4 brave men. Excellent Wordless Wednesday post. Have a great day. :)
ReplyDeleteTHanks All. I can imagine how emotionla seeing your relative's war grave would have been.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful images, thanks for the comment about my WW, was stunned to come over to yours and see New Zealand, that's where I'm from.
ReplyDeleteThanks for another reminder of the importance of reminders in the form of monuments. Poignant. Thanks.
ReplyDeletesobering and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this very thought provoking tribute, Jams. So many have put their own lives on the line for others...I believe it is something that most of us cannot understand, but a high calling from God.
ReplyDeletethanks all
ReplyDeleteI love that poem.
ReplyDeleteVery powerful pictures but I love the poem
ReplyDeleteSmiles and Blessings,
Angel ( Angel Mama )
Great poem and a powerful post.
ReplyDeleteHappy WW
Great post, it's sad to have loved ones die so far from home
ReplyDeleteAgain a powerful post.
ReplyDeleteRegards.
Very patriotic.
ReplyDeleteMine is up too.
There is always something moving about gravestones photographed in black and white but when there is a story to go with them they are far more moving. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe people who fought a war for more than money and power, the people who gave us freedom, the true heroes.
ReplyDeleteA wonderful tribute.
ReplyDeleteWow, beautiful.
ReplyDeleteRIP, great pictures.
ReplyDeleteVery moving..
ReplyDeleteI am so grateful for all the men and women who sacrifice their life for my freedom!
ReplyDeleteI hope I don't have to see many more graves in my life time.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful tribute.
ReplyDeleteHappy WW!
Jane, Pinks & Blues Girls
Touching tribute. May we always remember those who have fallen.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I love coming here to see what you've got in store for us :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful tribute.
ReplyDeleteThanks all!
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping in to my little bit of Ireland. My pic was taken in the Capitolio Nacional, Havana in Cuba earlier this year!
ReplyDeletemay good bless their souls. Happy WW.
ReplyDeleteNice one Jams. It's easy to forget that the second world war wasn't a Hollywood movie...
ReplyDeleteMoving tribute. I like what you have posted here.
ReplyDeleteThanks
I love the starkness of the photos and the quiet comments they make on a heroic life, ended too soon.
ReplyDeletethanks all. Thanks misslionheart I was wondering where that statue was. My own links are pretty close to Ireland myself
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely WW =)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that each one has such nicely done headstones.
ReplyDeleteI'm weird in that I find old gravestones really interesting and lovely. Great WW, jams.
ReplyDeleteEver noticed how the newer stones can be really garish and overdone?
I love old churchyards. Many of them are left to get overgrown in parts which adds to teh attraction - well it's not as if the residents will complain is it. Some cemeteries have ruls about the size of memorials so we dont get so many garish ones now. Some of the Victorian cemeteries are great though.
ReplyDeleteThe answer to this week's WW : Guess-It is up~ Head on down and take a peak and see if you won!
ReplyDelete