WW1 Graves - 5th Jan 2012 7:35pm
Some years ago, I was in Belgium on my way to the Menin gate at Ypres. On the main road into Ypres, about 5 miles out, I spotted a small graveyard for British soldiers. I recognised it by the distinctive cross. There are many of these graveyards in France and Belgium, the land being given over by grateful farmers to bury the dead. Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to go and take a look.
As you enter these graveyards, there is usually,placed in a hollow in the wall, with a metal door to protect it from the elements, a book listing the names of the soldiers buried in the cemetery, and in some cases, listing their next-of-kin. Imagine then, to my amazement, when the first name I saw was a chap called Cohen who was the son of a vicar who lived in Palm Grove in Oxton!! He was, I think, a corporal in the Cheshire Regiment. I thought it was a bit spooky at the time that I, a resident of the Wirral, should stumble so eerily on the grave of such a man.
The Menin Gate ceremony was a very moving experience. The Last Post is played every day by a member of the local Fire Brigade, no less!! There are always throngs of people from all over the world-many who have come to remember loved ones-even through three generations sometimes, as you discover from the inevitable conversations that you strike up with people at places like that.
Can anyone shed any light on Corporal Cohen (that's the name \i recall)from Palm Grove, Oxton? At least he had a known grave-unlike so many more unfortunate men and women of the Great War.
As you enter these graveyards, there is usually,placed in a hollow in the wall, with a metal door to protect it from the elements, a book listing the names of the soldiers buried in the cemetery, and in some cases, listing their next-of-kin. Imagine then, to my amazement, when the first name I saw was a chap called Cohen who was the son of a vicar who lived in Palm Grove in Oxton!! He was, I think, a corporal in the Cheshire Regiment. I thought it was a bit spooky at the time that I, a resident of the Wirral, should stumble so eerily on the grave of such a man.
The Menin Gate ceremony was a very moving experience. The Last Post is played every day by a member of the local Fire Brigade, no less!! There are always throngs of people from all over the world-many who have come to remember loved ones-even through three generations sometimes, as you discover from the inevitable conversations that you strike up with people at places like that.
Can anyone shed any light on Corporal Cohen (that's the name \i recall)from Palm Grove, Oxton? At least he had a known grave-unlike so many more unfortunate men and women of the Great War.