To have tears in my eyes at this?

[parmalilac]

Just seen in the news photos of the Somme soldiers at railway stations etc today, silently handing out cards with names of the fallen. What a wonderful way to to remind us of that terrible tragedy, and well done to whoever organised it.

Has anyone found out who's behind #wearehere? I know they didn't do it for the accolades but they have done something truly amazing.

19,000 dead feels so abstract but seeing each soldier as an individual brought me to tears during my commute.

played by the Argyll & Sutherlands pipes and drums.

For all my highland family who served in WWI.

It's the National Theatre/National Youth Theatre Zampa.

www.nyt.org.uk/article/members-performance-opportunity

YANBU at all. I had tears in my eyes when I saw them at Manchester piccadilly this morning. Very moving. Very poignant.

My grandad was not only at the First Day of the Somme (and the rest of it, and right through WW1 to the end) but was in the TA so called up on Day 1 of WW2. He was in London doing firewatch during the Blitz which he told his brother was even more terrifying than being in the trenches. But towards the end of the War, was one of the Yorkshire regt of soldiers who liberated Belsen and was there for the clean up.

I can never quite believe my own grandad was not only at the First Day of the Somme, one of the bloodiest battles in human history (as a 16 year old) but also saw Belsen.

He was a tough old sod, as well. Tough as nails. Not surprising, really.

I shed a tear for him today. In the photo of him before he goes, he looks about 12. In the photos of him after WW1 - he is a grown man.

One reason I have been so upset about what happened last week is that he fought for a decade of his life, in Europe so we could have a Europe. And for Gemrany and the UK to finally be allies, and closely linked - mad the Somme almost a price worth paying.

All gone, now, though.

*made, not mad!

Wow, your Granddad saw the worst side of humanity in his life Joffrey. What a huge amount for one person to have to deal with. We all owe a lot to people like him. You must be so proud

I'm very proud of him Also my two great uncles who died in WW1.

(And the Polish airman who was engaged to my mum but died in WW2). If he'd lived, I'd never have been born - maybe in two ways.

Jeffrey my granddad was bomb disposal in London in ww2 and there are the liberation of Bergen too.

He didn't really speak about it, apart from his whole team getting blown up by a bomb with a secondary device, and never about the camps (but he did vomit at the smell of burnt meat).

A very imaginative, fitting and thought provoking tribute - well done to everyone involved.

I suspect if the referendum had come after the somme centenary rather than the Queen's birthday then the results would have been reversed.

There were soldiers in Ikea in Southampton this morning, I received a card and heard them sing - incredibly moving.

It is so important that the bravery and sacrifice is never, ever forgotten

I had tears in my eyes this morning. Ds is almost 17 so close in age to so many who died. I kept thinking of how their poor mothers would have felt, being told they had been killed.

I cried too

My relative was killed at the Somme. Here is the song that reduces me to tears. Every. Single. Time.

My grandfather was on the Somme as a young man of 24, he survived the rest of the war and went on to marry a French girl who he met who lived not far from where the Thiepval memorial now is
Sadly after having my Dad she died very young from TB
My Dad himself served in WW2 despite being wounded twice - we are still lucky to have him around in his nineties
I spent a lot of time on the Somme when younger visiting family over there and the recent TV coverage has brought back many memories

Please don't derail this thread with politics

Shame on the politicians and generals who ordered a generation of young men to certain slaughter.

After all, politics has nothing to do with war.....

The memorial in Exeter is amazing. Rob Heard carved 19240 figures to represent every soldier killed on the first day, and they are laid out in the public gardens. Just the photos make me cry. www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/work-to-install-20-000-figures-in-park-memorial-to-those-who-died-at-the-somme-has-begun/story-29462223-detail/story.html

Don't forget it was largely the older generation that voted out of Europe, you all conveniently forget. Largely as the country they fought for they don't recognise any more.

And you're conveniently forgetting that the older generation demographic starts at 65+. Made up in the large of babyboomers. And babyboomers didn't do a whole lot of fighting in WWII did they? Seeing as they were only born in the 1940s/50s.

Damn those nonagenarians and their 100 yr olds friends!

We must of course hold them to account as that massive sector of the population are of course single handedly voting us out of Europe.

Ahem.

I'm a remainer, but lots of those baby boomers were directly affected by war.

Either conscription to national service, growing up on rationing, the older ones again evacuation and bombings, and the loss of male family members.

Some fought but there aren't many 90+ year olds left, maybe about 25,000, but the children of war grew up effected by it.