Remembrance Sunday!

 

I, like many Veterans, prepared myself for the act of remembering the fallen by polishing my shoes and medal and getting the rest of my kit ready on the Saturday before.

I was proud to have been given the privilege of representing the Rheindahlen Branch of the Royal British Legion, at the British Ceremony of Remembrance in the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Reichswald! The British Senior National Representative, Group Captain RJ Niven, at the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre had asked for a representative who was also to recite the Kohima Epitaph during the Ceremony! 

As there were many Royal Pioneers buried in this cemetery I also took a Wreath given me by the RPC Association to lay in their honour. 

As I had never been to the Reichswald before I was up early and a good thing too, as the first thing I was called upon to do was scrape the ice off of all my car’s windows! 

My NAVI, as we say here in Germany, took me to the Reichswald via The Netherlands. The address I had was that the cemetery was on the Grünewald Straße and when I got to it I turned the wrong way and drove away from the cemetery. I quickly realised my error and turned round and soon found it. 

There was quite a gathering of Nations at the cemetery as one might expect. In fact all NATO Nations were represented including Poland a relatively new member State. 

I made myself known to Group Captain Niven and the Parade Sergeant Major. I was asked to lay the RPC Wreath in the third wave of wreath layers which included the local German Civil Dignatories and to lay the RBL Wreath last! 

The Wreath Layers were lined up about 20 metres from the Memorial Stone, so it was quite a Walk of honour to lay my two wreaths. 

The sun shone and there was frost on the ground. There were no microphones or means of projecting ones voice other than that learned on Army Parades. It was difficult to hear the voice of the RAF Chaplin who had come out especially from the UK, or the other actors in the ceremony! 

Consequently when it came to my turn to recite the Kohima Epitaph I put on my best parade ground voice and recited it as loud as I could!

“When you go home, tell them of us and say, 

for your tomorrow, we gave our today!”

After the ceremony I visited a number of the graves.

This man is the grandfather of fellow Pioneer Kevin Kittel!

Next year I shall make sure I take a number of the small RBL wooden crosses to mark the graves I visit!

This is how far away I stood during the ceremony and the distance I had to march twice to lay my wreaths!

Guests had been invited to a light lunch in the UK Community Centre following the ceremony and so I now went there. It was in a converted Military Quarter on what had once clearly been the Patch when the RAF had had a large presence in Germany.

Here I was able to have a conversation with the Chaplin Rev Craig Lancaster, who thanked me for my part, so I must presume my voice carried! 

I told the organisers that I would return next year to represent the Royal Pioneer Corps and if possible bring a second person to represent the Rheindahlen Branch of the Royal British Legion! 

My NAVI took me home this time not going via the Netherlands! 

Now I know!

I've shed a tear or two today! The first time was this afternoon when, after my visit to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned I sat by Hanna's grave. I was chatting and telling her what I had been up to. Today I have started to send out thank you cards to all who sent me condolence letters and also yesterday and today I have finally booked all the accommodation needed for my trip to America. This booking of accommodation was always Hanna's task when planning our holidays together. She had a talent for finding the most romantic places for us to stay. Over the last two days I have finally understood how much effort it costs and how hard she worked to get it right.

At one stage I got it hopelessly wrong and booked a hotel in Albany, Western Australia, instead of Albany, in the State of New York!! It was only when the confirmation email came that I realized my mistake and had to ring up and cancel it, which initially it said I could NOT!!!! So while sitting there and telling her this I shed a tear or two because she would have liked to have helped in the planning and now could not, and I missed her so.

The tubs of flowers on the grave I had arranged from the monies various friends gave me and of course I could not resist putting one there from me either. On Sunday we had the six week mass for Hanna. It is nothing really special, her name gets mentioned during the mass and prayers are said. It was nice though to acknowledge friends and acquaintances who had come especially for it.

My flowers are also a token of my remembering a special anniversary of ours which occurs while I am away.

The second time I could not help weeping was when I found this photo of Hanna and Christopher. I took it sometime in May and it is the look of affection on Christopher's face for his Omi and her looking directly at me that tipped me over. He is such a loving child and the two of them had such a special relationship that gladdened my heart, and was a great comfort to Hanna during the last weeks of her life. We talked about it when we could quite a bit at the time. So it's a very special photo of a unique moment in time.

Have stone, will travel!

Progress is being made and the sun shone on it today too. Hanna would be pleased. We just have to get the marble slab with Hanna's details onto the grave now, by the end of next week I hope, and then some flowers can be planted and I will buy some from the money people have given me.

I met today with a friend who is coming to the USA with me, to discuss our plan and what still needs to be done before we depart. He kindly gave me a book by Bettina Selby entitled "Pilgrim's Road. A Journey to Santiago de Compostela". Selby did it by bike from Vézelay  in France, which as luck would have it is the way I want to go. My map of the routes through France also arrived in the post today! If autumn is nice I might try and do the first leg by bike from here to Trier  before Christmas. It's a bit ambitious, but one has to set goals or nothing gets done.

A Spanish friend has recently given me the film of the trip with Martin Sheen as the pilgrim called, "The Way". If I have time I may watch it this evening. My Spanish friend who has done it too, also mentioned that there is one place along the route, where pilgrims place a stone they have carried from home. A nice idea, so yesterday I picked one up from off of Hanna's grave. Good thing I did, as there are none there today.

So have stone, will travel!