Conor Dodd Posted 20 April , 2003 Share Posted 20 April , 2003 Sadly Walter Humphreys died last Thursday at a Nursing Home in Londonat the age of 105. He was one of the veterans at the reunion in the P.R.O. During the war he served as a Pte. in the Civil Service Rifles. Conor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 20 April , 2003 Share Posted 20 April , 2003 And the few became fewer Here's to you Walter RIP Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 21 April , 2003 Share Posted 21 April , 2003 As long as we continue to remember them, the Veterans will never die. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 21 April , 2003 Share Posted 21 April , 2003 Lee, I believe that this forum is some testament to them. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hill 60 Posted 21 April , 2003 Share Posted 21 April , 2003 Lee, I believe that this forum is some testament to them. Ian Ian - You're not wrong there mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john w. Posted 21 April , 2003 Share Posted 21 April , 2003 He did his bit.... Now he's gone to join those who were cut down before... John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 21 April , 2003 Share Posted 21 April , 2003 Bearing in mind there are so few of the boys left is there some way we can keep a register of them and say get people living close to them to interview them or at least get a photographic picture library together? Time creeps up so quickly! Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor Dodd Posted 21 April , 2003 Author Share Posted 21 April , 2003 I agree I wrote to the Great War Veteran Assc. a few months ago but no reply, also since there is no veterans now left if Ireland North or South all I will be able to do is collect interviews each with photos that were done in the 90's (if people want them) but I think it is important to keep a record as there will be so many people who will never be able to meet a veteran. I think perhaps we should open a new thread for this ? Conor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 21 April , 2003 Share Posted 21 April , 2003 Absolutely Connor! What does everyone else think? Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Mooney Posted 21 April , 2003 Share Posted 21 April , 2003 Ian, Excellent idea - seconded...do I hear a move for a concensus? Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john w. Posted 21 April , 2003 Share Posted 21 April , 2003 I have suggested to Chris that if we could get one of the veterans to do a live web chat here... then it could be filmed as part of a documentary on this site. The big problem is their mobility.... The problem when you get to the last, is the sense of urgency, "you dont know what you got till its gone!" John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mordac Posted 22 April , 2003 Share Posted 22 April , 2003 A friend at work gave me 10 videos today; they were produced by the Government of Canada (Veterans Affairs) between 1996-1998 as part of their oral history project. The idea was to record the thoughts and recollections of Canadian WW1 veterans from the time they enlisted to the time they were demobilized. Each video is between 40 minutes to an hour in length. I watched the first three videos tonight. At the time the videos were recorded, two of the vets were 98 and the other was 99 years old. Their stories of trench warfare and night patrols in No Mans Land were quite remarkable. One of the veterans, Alex Morrison, MM, won his medal for holding a critical trench during a counter attack. He said he didn't win the MM for bravery, he won it for not running away. These men are (were) national treasures and I'm please the federal government took the time to honour them in this fashion. In this case, it was taxpayer's money well spent. I'm looking forward to watching the remaining videos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broznitsky Posted 22 April , 2003 Share Posted 22 April , 2003 Mordac, when you are finished viewing the videos, perhaps we could meet and I could borrow them (and have my wife give me "that" look). Not that I condone piracy, but perhaps they should be "duplicated" for archival purposes . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john w. Posted 22 April , 2003 Share Posted 22 April , 2003 Can we not get someone interested in producing our own bersions of the Canadian tapes? Or has enough been done over the years?... e.g. the 80th anniversary of the end of the war. I have just received mt copy of Forgotten Men which was filmed in 1934.. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 22 April , 2003 Share Posted 22 April , 2003 The book 'Forgotten Voices' was based on transcripts of audio tape of veterans talking about their experiences. But as far as I know there has been no attempt at a video record. Someone on the Forum seems to know Smiler Marshall, perhaps we could 'make a start' with him? Views anyone? Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mordac Posted 23 April , 2003 Share Posted 23 April , 2003 Broznitsky: I've asked my son to do tape-to-tape copies of these videos for me. It would be nice to condense the 10 videos onto two or three tapes. I'll ask him to do an extra set for you. This might take a month or two to complete and I'll send you an e-mail when they're ready. I don't think there's any problem with copying these tapes; they're public documents (records) and there's no copyright warnings on the three videos I saw yesterday. Besides, I'll be saving the Canadian taxpayers a couple of dollars by using my own tapes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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