I've been busy in the real world today, so blogging has been light. Here's a third article on today's theme of memory and how it passes.
The Economist recently offered a respectful and touching description of the war memories of Harry Patch and Henry Allingham, the last two British veterans of WWI who died, implausibly old, in 2009. They began telling their tales only once they had reached extreme old age; the memories were literally snatched from the jaws of oblivion at the very last moment.
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3 comments:
I found their memories extremely moving. That they remembered the horrors in such detail for so many decades reflects the harrowing trauma of war.
Sadly we have yet to learn their lessons.
Lisa
here is an incredibly rich site worth visiting whenever one feels oneself in danger of forgetting what war is really like or when one wants to understand what for example Robert Graves in "Goodbye to all that" is talking about. As a starter scroll down to "Trench Warfare" and watch. http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/education/
While looking at I try to imagine what it must have been like in there when it rained and rained and rained not to mention in winter, stick with it till the end it is worth it.
Even though this type of warfare may be outdated now the horror of it all certainly is not.
If you're too far away from Israel to have access to first hand accounts but want a vague image of what urban warfare of today is like I can recommend this book
http://www.amazon.de/No-True-Glory-Frontline-Fallujah/dp/0553383191/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books-intl-de&qid=1264618935&sr=8-2
I assume operating in Gaza is not very different.
Silke
Yaacov,
Thanks very much for posting this link. The article is profoundly moving and I would not have seen it otherwise.
David E. Sigeti
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