Friday 11 November 2011

Remembrance Day


Today is Remembrance Day, when we commemorate the guns falling silent at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month at the Western front, after four years of fighting. The two minutes silence, now one, was suggested by Australian journalist, Edward Honey, who was working in Fleet St at the time, and was supported in England and Africa as an appropriate and fitting tribute to the fallen soldiers. King George V asked everyone in the British Empire to observe a two minute silence in memory of those who served, in recognition of their fight for freedom and victory.

My beloved great grandmother, Alexandrina, lost her first husband at the Ypres in 1917, and like so many war wives, had to bring up her 8 children alone. She is pictured here 3rd from the left, with one of her daughters, first left.

Alexandrina, or Alice as she was called,  went on to marry a wonderful man, Alfred Ernest Cardinal, and together they had another 3 children, one of whom was my maternal grandmother. As a keen Genealogist, I am often reminded what a remarkable man Alfred must have been, not only to take on 8 children, but to be a father to them, and three more. My grandmother never wanted for food in the great depression as they lived on an orchard in Armadale...she was indeed, quite lucky. Any reserves of food such as fruit, vegetables and eggs they had were bartered for meat, such was the system of trade in those days!

Even in her dotage I remember visiting my great grandmother's home, where we would hunt for eggs in the garden and I once told my nan that Nanna Cardinal would be cross because someone had taken the eggs out of the carton and put them in the garden! lol. We would pick mini potatoes and she'd boil them up on her cast iron wood stove,  eating them with lashings of butter. She was such an extraordinary woman...even had to kill the chooks for one of her sons who just couldn't bring himself to do it lol!!! She also won the best garden in Gosnells 10yrs running. I remember her with great fondness.




So today, not only do I give thanks and prayers to Frederick Metcalf and all those he served with, but the women who kept the country running while the men went off to fight for King and country...the grand adventure, so they thought. May time never weary them and may they always find grace in the Lord's embrace. Karen Cosson  (C)

Sadly, the only picture I had of Frederick has been lost.  Lest we forget.

No comments:

Post a Comment