Petebut

Are the ceremonies we hold to commemorate our war dead proper and appropriate.? Should we not do more to recognise their sacrifice? In years to come memories will fade and I think we should have more active and participative ways to show our respect - such as - cleaning and putting flowers around war memorials as citizens , not leaving it to the council !- and not just once a year.

We should teach children as part of the curriculum as we become more ethnically diverse of the historical events and their impact. The Armed Forces should visit schools and review what happened and why and all schools should arrange trips to war sites to understand events and appreciate adversity and loss.

What do you think ?

This isn’t a question. It’s a lecture. Personally, while I agree with much of it, there is a danger that the sort of behaviour you’re talking about is likely to aggravate a trend which is already evident – the conviction that this country’s best days are behind it. We owe our children and grandchildren the possibility that Britain has a dynamic, exciting future. The trick is to strike a balance.

papaoscar

Hello Jeremy,

My question is, do you think wars should be celebrated or mourned, and how can we get the horrors of war over to future generations whilst honouring the war dead and maimed.

I have enjoyed your WW1 programmes, particularly the descriptions of some of the minor but intensely personal events. My grandfather was a first war soldier and my father a professional soldier for most of his life, in consequence of which I was brought up in a military environment. The glorification of war was not a part of that life, and whilst I like and respect tradition, I am concerned that ceremonies like the Trooping of the Colour may be sending out the wrong messages these days when the horrors of war are still so very evident.

Only an idiot ‘celebrates’ war. Personally, I don’t associate Trooping the Colour with combat. More fool me, perhaps. But I do find it stirring, and there’s still something in that Dr. Johnson line that every man thinks less of himself for not having been a soldier.

durhamjen

I have just watched a programme about Ivor Gurney, who for the last years of his life after WW1 never wrote any more poetry and ended up in a mental asylum.
My mother used to tell us about her uncle, who was in the Hull Pals. He joined with lots of friends from his place of work. They were in the infantry, digging trenches. When a shell landed in No Man's Land, they used to dig until they reached the shell hole, to advance the front line. One day a shell came over, so they dug. The next shell landed in the same hole and killed everyone apart from her uncle.
Her mother used to say he was such a happy lad before he went off to war. When he came back he never laughed or sang again.
You can understand why people used to be so reluctant to talk about the war. Even our fathers were reluctant to talk about the second world war.
Now they are dying off, and wars since seem to be more distant. How do we get children to realise war is not a game to be played on Xbox or Wii?

Apart from some controllers of drones out in the Dakota desert I don’t believe they do see it that way – if they did, the army wouldn’t have a recruitment issue.

tiggypiro

My grandfather (born in 1892 and named Seymour Patterson) in civilian life was a wheelwright, joiner and undertaker. I have a photo of him in his uniform with a flash on the shoulder which possibly reads 'Fleet Air Arm'. I am led to believe that he helped build the first wooden planes and that those who built them had to go up on the maiden flight. I suppose this was to make sure they built them correctly !
Will this story have any truth in it and how could I find out more about his service life ? I have had a tentative look on the internet but have had no luck as his name does not seem to be there.
He came through the war unscathed as far as I know.

You need to find out which unit he served with. They all have regimental histories. Spend a day at the National Archives at Kew – the staff there are very helpful and will assist in tracking down his personal records. I think you might that it was called something like the Royal Naval Air Service, rather than the Fleet Air Arm.

By the way, there is no point in doing anything ‘tentative’ on the internet. Key in any question you like, and try half a dozen ways of getting the answer you need.

grannyactivist

Jeremy, it seems to me that those who served and died during the two world wars engender a simple response of gratitude for their sacrifice and yet the response to those who have died in more recent conflicts do not. The causes of conflicts, and individual incidents within such conflicts, are now rightly subject to far greater scrutiny than in the past and consequently those who currently serve are regarded in some way as being, for want of a better word, 'tainted', by people's perception of recent conflicts. Do you have a view on this?
I speak as someone who opposed recent conflicts and yet supported a close family member in the military who lost his life to an IED in Afghanistan.

There’s something in what you say, though all wars are almost always the fault of politicians of one stripe or another. I also think attitudes are probably slightly different when you have professional or volunteer armed forces.

kittylester

Hi Jeremy! My family came through both wars relatively unscathed, thankfully but, do you think we should be teaching our children (or in my case grandchildren!) about the bravery of individuals in war or should we be teaching them about the vanity of leaders who start wars? Are the two things compatible?

Of course they are – as I say, wars represent the failure of politics. But sometimes they have to be fought, there being no other way. Whatever the cause, those who fight them – or have fought in them – have been expected to do something that most of us have never been asked to do. Through that, they have earned our respect.

Pittcity

A lot of our family stories of WW1 have turned out to be myths. For example my husband's maternal grandfather had told his family (he married his 2nd wife in 1919) that he was in the cavalry in Colchester in WW1. They were from Rochdale but we now live in Colchester. My research has found that he was a groom in the stables at Colchester cavalry barracks for a few months until he was invalided out of the army because he had an adverse reaction to the vaccinations he was given.

Why did men feel the need to embroider the truth or not to correct misconceptions?

There were many men who exaggerated the extent or the grandeur of their military service. I have yet, for example, to read the memoirs of a World War One ‘shit wallah’ in the trenches. Surely your husband’s maternal grandfather was entitled to call himself a cavalryman? Someone had to groom the horses.

Happy2Be

Why did it take Greece until July 1917 to decide which side they were on?

Because they’re Greek?

rubysong

In view of the carnage of WW1 why was the Kaiser allowed to live out his days unpunished in Holland?

God knows. He was a vain, dangerous man who in modern times would, I hope, have been put on trial at The Hague.

Maggiemaybe

Italy lost around 3% of its population during World War 1, and the country was left impoverished and weak, with high inflation and unemployment, after fighting a disastrous campaign to the South of the Western Front. Between 1915 and 1917, Italian troops only managed to get 10 miles into Austrian territory, and they then had to retreat from the battle of Caporetto, having had to fight the whole Austrian Army and 7 divisions of German troops, and losing 300,000 men. Being on the winning side they at least expected to be given the large areas of territory in the Adriatic promised to them by Britain when they were persuaded to join the war. Instead they were all but ignored and humiliated by Britain, France and the USA at Versailles afterwards and gained virtually nothing. Why would you say this was? Was it simply because they were known to have favoured the “other side” at the start of hostilities? And how far would you say the Italian WW1 experience aided the rise of Mussolini?

I’m not expert enough to deal with the last question. But Italy’s inability to make its mind up did not make it very popular with the other Allies. The fighting in the Alps, though, must have been every bit as terrible as the Western Front. There’s a rather touching museum in Kobarid, Slovenia, if you’re out that way.

applepie

Hi Jeremy. Do you have an opinion on how WW1 should be taught in schools? At the moment all kids take from WW1 is the Somme and trenches. Do you think it should be more diverse and they should be taught more about other countries?

Yes I do. There are some inspirational teachers struggling hard. But they aren’t helped by the awful, mechanistic nature of the curriculum and the exams.

choochootrain

I've just come over from Twitter so apologies if I'm not doing this right . . .

Is there someone you haven't yet interviewed who you'd really like to grill ?

Everyone has a story to tell. It’s just a case of discovering what it is.

CaffeineAddict

Loved your interview with Russell Brand that went viral

Do you think he speaks complete nonsense or is there some meaning to his words? I think he's verbose just for show.

I think he’s had too much coffee.

Penstemmon

Hi Jeremy,

WWW1 co-incidentally created huge opportunities for women and was seminal in starting the change to the 'traditional' male/female roles.

Do you feel this was a positive outcome from this otherwise ghastly war?

Yes I do. Politicians had come to recognize that the old, semi-feudalistic political system could not continue when the war was over. Part of that was the beginning of the enfranchisement of women.

Deedaa

I have been reading a book by one of the dog handlers in Afghanistan. We hear so much today about modern weapons and how attacks can ce carried outat the touch of a button, but reading his bookhas made me realise that the life of the ordinary soldier hasn't changed very much since the days of WW1. They have sand to contend with instead of mud, satellite phones instead of occasional letters from home and searing heat instead of cold and rain: but the costant fear, danger, seperation from loved ones and just general discomfort remain the same. "Modern" warfare really isn't very modern at all.
By the way my husband would like to know how your dog is - although it must be some years since he passed you with him !

They’re much better equipped now than they were, of course. But I expect you remember the phrase in Donovan’s The Universal Soldier: ‘he’s the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war, and without him all this killing can’t go on.’

I don’t know which dog your husband is talking about – probably the very old, blind one, who doesn’t do much now but lie about. Luckily, there are two other dogs, a Labrador and a Battersea Dog’s Home mutt (the most enigmatic individual in the house), with whom I can enjoy walks.

Nellsbells

Sorry, but not a question about WWI. Jeremy, I very much enjoy watching you grill a politician or two. Was there an interview which you partilcularly enjoyed? It's like watching a boxing match sometimes, only more eloquent!

I enjoyed loads of them. And occasionally, one learned something