h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

11 November 1918 was an incredibly important date. It is incredibly significant for marking the end of the Great War (for all but two nations; Andorra and Costa Rica were accidentally left out of the peace accords). It was also the date that my mother's father was born – George Arthur Peace Surname*. I'm quite proud that he had 'Peace' as a middle name - though sadly my grandmother hated it, saying he should have been called 'Victory' instead.

I could give a brief summary of his life. He always said that he was born in Cowes with Spanish flu, he became an apprentice at JS White's shipyard where they build destroyers – one of JS White's ships built when he was there, ORP Blyskawica, is still around and on display in Poland: A87769453. At the outbreak of war as an apprentice shipwright he was sought by the Royal Navy to become a Petty Officer chippy, and later became Chief Petty Officer on board HMS Birmingham. It was on shore leave at Conwy Castle that he met my grandmother. She was desperate for a reason to leave an abusive home and wanted to marry a man of the who would sweep her off her feet and take her to see the world. He was a man who felt he had seen the world and, as most of it had been shooting at him, just wanted to get back home to the Isle of Wight, put his feet up and enjoy some of his hard-earned middle name and quiet. So overall the marriage wasn't a success but at least my mum was born.

So on Remembrance Sunday I washed and put on my Sunday best – my trousers felt unusually uncomfortable around the calf area and my boots were really rubbing against my ankles which is odd as they fitted perfectly earlier in the week. Still I went to the town's War Memorial where they had a real Remembrance Service that really was quite moving – complete with dressed all in black to signify all the dead animals of the war , It was also striking how international it is to be 'British' when the members of the Royal British Legion arrived. The town was also dedicating two new stones listing all the names of those who had died, including civilians, in the wars since the Great War:
The Russian Civil War, 1917–1922 (My great-grandfather on my Dad's side fought in this)
The Irish War of Independence, 1919–1921
The Irish Civil War, 1922–1923
The Second World War, 1939–1945
The Korean War, 1950–1953
The Kenya Emergency, 1952–1960
The Suez Crisis, 1956
The Malayan Emergency, 1948–1960
The Aden Emergency, 1963–1967
The Troubles, 1968–1998
The Falklands War, 1982
The Gulf War, 1990–1991
The Bosnian War, 1992–1995
The Kosovo War, 1998–1999
The 'War on Terrorism', 2001–2013
The War in Afghanistan, 2001–2014
The Iraq War and Insurgency, 2003–2011

But I must confess that though the ceremony was on those who had died in the Great War, I was thinking of my grandfather.

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That's a great story, Bluebottle! Thank you for this!

Lovely tributes