Uncle Tom’s Grave at Metz
As we arrive at the final days of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One I would like to make a personal tribute to my Grandfather and Great Uncles.
On 6th August 1918 Raymond Jackson (who the family called Tom) of the 3rd Dragoon Guards died as a prisoner of war in Metz Fortress Hospital and was buried at Metz.
My Grandfather Arthur Jackson, born on Guernsey, served on HMS Canada in the Battle of Jutland. He survived WW1. (fortunately for me, otherwise I wouldn’t be here!)
As a family story goes, Grandpa Jackson’s ship was in the Mediterranean at one time and docked at Port Said, Egypt. Whilst there Grandpa was told that there was a Jackson in the port hospital. Grandpa visited the man, only to find that it was his brother Great Uncle Earnest Jackson, but unfortunately Ernest had just died.
Did I hear this story when I was a child? I have no idea, but when Dad read ‘Ancasta ~ Guide me Swiftly Home’ my second novel, which in one chapter told a similar tale, he quizzed me on it. Just one of those unexplained coincidences!
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Beautiful tribute.
Many thanks
That is fascinating. Childhood memories are potent. At 80, I have few early ones, yet I still think about them occasionally, or they just come up in my conscious thought. Most of them are scary events, like hearing the ambulance men removing my sick dad out of the house; he had a burst appendix. I remember adults downstairs (or the radio) murmuring something about a fire at the Canary (which much later I learned was a nightclub). But a seemingly benign event sticks, too, and that is 5-year-old me sitting on the lawn near the curb playing a hand cranked record player, listening to “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” Best thoughts, Karen Dahood Tucson
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It is odd Karen what we remember and how memories pop into our heads unbidden. It is odd that this ‘memory’ ended in my story though when the characters lives were lead by my research. All the best Diana
It’s been a day of remembering, Diana – my own grandfather made it through the War, although not unscathed (I posted a blog about his experience earlier tonight)
I’ve just been visiting family Andrew but I’ll check it out now. We were able to attend the service where they read out the names of my husband’s great uncles. Quite moving.