by Evelyn | May 23, 2020 | The Great War
by Evelyn McKechnie ‘I put my Mammy’s flowers down for her wee brother. That was always her wish’.Theresa McKend, niece of Victoria Cross recipient Hugh McIver In 2008, it was the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War, ‘the war to end all wars’ and it was a...
by Evelyn | May 11, 2020 | The Great War
by Evelyn McKechnie Commonwealth Graves Cemetery An Ayrshire Mill Town Kilbirnie is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, with a population of around 7,500. Like so many small towns, it thrived in the past, but not so much now. In the mid 19th century,...
by Evelyn | Apr 30, 2020 | The Great War
by Evelyn McKechnie The Great War began in 1914, and for many who served in the war, putting pen to paper about their experiences seemed a way out of the misery, no matter how brief the respite it gave them from the surrounding horrors. The Western Front –...
by Evelyn | Apr 28, 2020 | The Great War
by Evelyn McKechnie Road marker on the Chemin des Dames On 17th April 2017, French President Francois Hollande became the first French leader to attend a memorial service at the site of one of the most horrific and deadliest battles of World War One – the offensive of...
by Evelyn | Apr 26, 2020 | 2nd World War, Normandy 1944
by Evelyn McKechnie The greatest sea-borne landing exercise in the world and the Liberation of France. “I came back to see you all” At my uncle’s grave in Hermanville War Cemetery, Normandy In 2004, I was in Normandy for the very first time, to pay respect at...
