Every Village, Every Town

[Dave]

The trumpets sounded, a nation's call,
Young men marched, standing proud and tall.
A future painted, brave and bright,
Stepped into the darkness, and the endless night.

From cobbled streets and fields of green,
A generation's curse, a tragic scene.
They left behind their loves and kin,
To fight a war they couldn't win.
The telegrams arrived with dread,
A list of names, the newly dead.

And every village, every town,
A cenotaph stands, bearing names down.
Silent stone, a tearful plea,
For fathers lost, for you and me.
A generation's price, so steep,
While widows weep and children sleep.

The trains returned, but not with all,
Some came back broken, beyond recall.
Scars unseen, a haunted gaze,
Lost in the war's bewildering maze.
The limping step, the missing hand,
A heavy burden on the land.

And every village, every town,
A cenotaph stands, bearing names down.
Silent stone, a tearful plea,
For fathers lost, for you and me.
A generation's price, so steep,
While widows weep and children sleep.

The poppies bloom, a solemn sign,
A fragile beauty, so divine.
A whispered prayer, a fading light,
Remembering the endless fight.

The cenotaphs remain, a constant ache,
A generation's curse, for goodness sake.
Their sacrifice, a debt we owe,
May peace prevail, and seeds of hope grow.

[Dave]

My maternal grandmother connected me to all of these individuals who lost their lives in World War I.

Rifleman Arthur Pye - 1st cousin 2 x removed
Rifleman Fred Pye - 1st cousin 2 x removed
Private Henry Pye - 1st cousin 2 x removed
Private John William Fillingham - 2nd cousin 2 x removed
Quartermaster Sergeant Robert Slater - 2nd cousin 2 x removed
Bugler Ernest Edward Morgan - 2nd cousin 2 x removed
Private John Gourlay - 2nd cousin 2 x removed
Rifleman Samuel Critchley - 2nd cousin 2 x removed
Private Henry Gornall - 2nd cousin 2 x removed
Trooper John Wilson - 2nd cousin 2 x removed
Gunner Moses Tinsley - 2nd cousin 3 x removed
Private Samuel Mercer Shaw - 2nd cousin 3 x removed
Corporal William Lawrence Henderson - 2nd cousin 3 x removed
Rifleman James Critchley - 2nd cousin 3 x removed
Corporal John Tebb - 3rd cousin 1 x removed
Private Thomas Boyers - 3rd cousin 2 x removed
Lance Corporal James Critchley - 3rd cousin 2 x removed
Private David Critchley - 3rd cousin 2 x removed
Private William Arthur Critchley - 3rd cousin 2 x removed
Private John Joseph Critchley - 3rd cousin 2 x removed
Serjeant Peter Critchley - 3rd cousin 2 x removed
Private Charles Mercer - 3rd cousin 2 x removed
Private William Wroe - 3rd cousin 2 x removed
Serjeant John Peel - 3rd cousin 2 x removed
Private Thomas Edward Gabitas - 3rd cousin 2 x removed
Private Thomas Beesley - 3rd cousin 3 x removed
Private Edley Flewitt - 3rd cousin 3 x removed
Private Nobel Waterworth - 4th cousin 1 x removed
Private Williiam Benyon - 4th cousin 1 x removed
Private Thomas Tunstall Stringman MM - 4th cousin 2 x removed
Private Alfred Waterworth - 5th cousin
Private Frank Derbyshire - 6th cousin 1 x removed
Private Edward Green - 6th cousin 1 x removed
Lance Corporal Thomas Fillingham - 7th cousin 2 x removed

[Southlancsman]

Dave, do you have a Harry Critchley, Royal Engineers, in your tree?

[Dave]

No. He isn't on SHROH, either.