forgotten war dead

Doreen is 75 and for most of her adult life had been a caregiver for her war-weary father, and while she cherishes war veterans she hates war and the fact that governments all too easily forget those who gave their lives for their country.

"The older dad became, the more he'd talk about the wars he'd lived through and the more terrible it became for me to care for him," says Doreen. "We had both been traumatized as kids by the wartime death of loved ones."

"My father's eldest brother and his cousin were killed in action in WWI, and my cousin, just a boy doing his duty as a fireman in the AFS, died in WWII," says Doreen. "Sure, millions of young men -- and women and children -- died in both of the world wars, but what irks me is that the two young men who died fighting for God knows what in the first world war are publicly listed as if they were unknown and belonged to nobody."

"At Find a Grave I located my father's cousin who died in 1917 in the First World War. His grave is inscribed, my italics, birth unknown."

"At HMS Black Prince 1916 Jutland Casualty List I located my uncle -- my father's eldest brother -- on a list of officers and men who were killed in action on H.M.S. Black Prince at Jutland Bank. The site describes the debacle as follows:

Brilliantly lit by half-a-dozen searchlights, the Black Prince was raked from stern to stem by a tornado of shells and lay a helpless wreck before she could even fire a shot in reply. As she drifted down the German line, ship after ship opened up on her, Thuringen, Ostfriesland, Nassau and, finally, as the fleet flagship Friedrich der Grosse, added her quota, the Black Prince met the same end as the Defence, blowing up with a tremendous explosion, vanishing with all hands.

"My uncle's tragic death as a sitting duck was noted in the roll of honour at the parish in which all of us were born, but his age and next of kin were listed as unknown," sighs Doreen. "If the British government cannot even bother to locate the birthdates for the gravestones of those who died in battle -- or locate the relatives of the fallen for public notices -- then it has no right to govern or send young men to war. Right? And don't get me started about the piteous shell-shocked young men who were shot as cowards in WWI and the appalling post-war care given to the injured veterans."

"The reason why my father's brother and cousin were listed as next of kin unknown in records of their deaths in WWI probably has something to do with the fact that by then their parents had deceased and they were orphans -- easy cannon fodder conscripts," explains Doreen, "but the British Government could at least have acknowledged that fact -- listing their parents as John and Mary Smith, deceased, or something like that -- rather than just listing them as next of kin unknown. And it's inexcusable that their birthdates are listed as unknown when both had registered birth certificates."

"Is human life that cheap? Yes, I suppose it is because in every stupid war since there have been similar crimes perpetrated by governments against their fighting men and women."

"We are exhorted to treat our war dead and veterans as heroes," says Doreen, "but most governments treat war dead as cheap, expendable lives, worthy only of a name on a piece of rock, and you only have to look at what has happened at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to see how the US treats its veterans. They're embarrassing liabilities, that's all."

"I suppose I should feel blessed that my father emigrated with his wife and young family from England to Canada before WWII because had he not done so we may not have survived," says Doreen, "but emigration, itself, was a traumatic experience, too -- and, in a strange way, so is survival."

"Luckily, my father was too young to fight in WWI and too old to fight in WWII," says Doreen, "but by working as a merchant seaman on the convoys from Canada to England during WWII his life was as much on the line as that of a younger man carrying a gun."

"While we were safe in Canada, our relatives were getting bombed in England," explains Doreen, "and it broke my heart when I heard about my cousin's death in a fire bomb in 1940. He was not much older than myself. You don't forget things like that. They haunt you forever."

"I feel desperately sorry for all of the mothers and grandmothers who are mourning the loss of their children and grandchildren in current wars," adds Doreen, "and I feel desperately sorry, too, for all the women who are going to spend the rest of their lives caregiving for their war wounded."

"As far as I'm concerned, WWI was a disgusting war brought on by greedy, puffed up old aristocrats with nothing better to do with their lives -- and the slaughter of countless young lives during 1914-1918 was completely and totally senseless," sighs Doreen, "but WWII was a bit different. You can't sit by and watch a madman with grand ambitions marching his army over your country, can you?"

"Oh dear, I think that last remark might have a parallel in today's world."