Subject: The Unknown Soldier (Ralph McTell) From: rich-joy Date: 10 Nov 20 - 01:22 AM Remembrance Day (Armistice Day) tomorrow (on the 11th) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v3liUY2gSE Film Clip and Lyrics for Ralph McTell's song "The Unknown Soldier", posted by Ralph on 08Nov2020. Please make a donation to the Royal British Legion via their website https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-... The Unknown Soldier - Ralph McTell Featuring Sir Billy Connolly Sir Anthony Hopkins Liam Neeson Produced and Arranged by Graham Preskett More than fifty thousand names Are carved on Ypres' Menin gate Of soldiers who have no known graves Just their destiny and date Witness and last testament Name and rank and regiment Is now all that survives From so many squandered lives And for every name inscribed The poor bereaved were left to mourn The passing of all those who died With no white cross on tended lawn No place to go to contemplate The sacrifice this wicked waste No footprint left to show where once they trod Allegedly known unto god From Ypres Arras Aisne and Somme Six unknown soldiers were exhumed A blindfold general picked one man And reverently they brought him home Six black horses drew the hearse Through silent London crowds immersed In deepest thought belief or wishful prayer That it might be their own boy there The metal tyres on the carriage wheels Played the tuneless requiem The sky as grey as bayonet steel Above the sombre hatless men One more enemy to kill That remaining sense of guilt That through it all somehow they had survived Returned to mothers sweethearts wives Familiar streets their own backyards Their medals and all praise ignored Relieved to be his honour guard And walk with him their true reward While far from pomp and circumstance Across the autumn fields of France The trenches start to slowly fill and fade The bloody page turned by the ploughman's blade Thankfully we'll never know If he was constant strong or frail Scared or brave in equal parts Country tanned or city pale A carefree youth or thoughtful lad Not wholly good or wholly bad A bomb does not judge how you played your part A bullet stops a lions heart With softest cloth and gentlest broom To sweep and wipe cathedral dust Like dried tears from this marble tomb Take care for he was one of us In perfect irony and grief The bride's bouquet becomes a wreath And wrapped beneath dark angels folded wings Tommy Atkins rests with kings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
Subject: RE: The Unknown Soldier (Ralph McTell) From: rich-joy Date: 11 Nov 20 - 06:50 AM refresh for 11/11/11/2020...... |
Subject: RE: The Unknown Soldier (Ralph McTell) From: GUEST,JHW Date: 13 Nov 20 - 04:28 PM Donated a week ago. Been excellent R4 programme 9-45am all week on 1920 burial of Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey, lead up and service on 11Nov1920 at 11am. |
Subject: RE: The Unknown Soldier (Ralph McTell) From: Joe_F Date: 14 Nov 20 - 05:48 PM "There have been few more radical changes in the history of Western culture than the change in attitude towards war and the military profession brought about by World War I.... "The symbol of the change was the construction after 1918 in all the belligerent countries of monuments to the Unknown Soldier. Previously, monuments had always been erected to known individuals. About the Unknown Soldier nothing is known except that he lost his life. For all we know, he may, personally, have been a coward. In his monument, that is to say, we pay homage to the warrior, not as a hero but as a martyr. -- W. H. Auden, _A Certain World: A Commonplace Book_ (1970), s.v. War |
Subject: RE: The Unknown Soldier (Ralph McTell) From: GUEST,Anon Date: 17 Nov 20 - 03:54 AM "I don't think that combat has ever been written about truthfully; it has always been described in terms of bravery and cowardice. I won't even accept these words as terms of human reference any more. And anyway, hell, they don't even apply to what, in actual fact, modern warfare has become". James Jones, novelist (6 Nov 1921-1977) |
Subject: RE: The Unknown Soldier (Ralph McTell) From: GUEST,JHW Date: 17 Nov 20 - 02:44 PM The R4 programme started with the 'problem' of millions of bereaved wishing to visit the grave of their fallen one abroad. A WW1 pardre already familiar with the grave of an unknown comrade forwarded the idea of a 'national' unknown soldier via the Dean of Westminster resulting in the re-burial and service in 1920. It was very well attended. A number from graves of the unknown were exhumed on the continent and one chosen. Even the place of his grave was not known to those making the choice. Indeed the soldier is not known nor are his beliefs. He could have been the missing relative of any of those that passed by. |
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