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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

February MGWAT


Chris Foster

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Excellent Chris, should be a fine topic- don't worry about the poll- I'll handle that....

Thanks Spike.

Regards

Chris.

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Sorry for asking what may be a silly question but I am new to the forum, what is MGWAT?

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Monthly Great War Art T opic

You can draw, paint, write a piece of prose, or a poem, make a model, anything you wish. You then post it, or a picture of it, on this thread and at the end of the month we have a vote for this months favourite.

There you have it ......MGWAT :)

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I do not have time to draw these days but heres one I did earlier, this is the closest I can get to "Home On Leave", hope it counts

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Monthly Great War Art T opic

You can draw, paint, write a piece of prose, or a poem, make a model, anything you wish. You then post it, or a picture of it, on this thread and at the end of the month we have a vote for this months favourite.

There you have it ......MGWAT :)

thanks spike

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love that Annette, will have to think on htis one but i'm sure something will come to me.

mandy

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Hi Soren, Mandy, spike, Landsturm

Thanks for comments. Soren, I was once told that hands are one of the most difficult things to draw, so I make big effort to get them right.

Annette

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I liked Mandy's idea of a letter home in the January MGWAT, so I thought I'd have a go in this months:-

A letter home from a soldier just returned to the Front regarding his recent home leave.

My darling sweet Elaine,

I sit here in the light of a candle, sitting in an old German dugout thinking of you. It now truly dawns upon me that my Home Leave is over, perhaps for some time and I feel I must explain some of my actions when I was at home recently. I want you and the boys to know that I love you more than life itself, and would no sooner do anything to cause you pain than chop off my own arm. Yet, I could see how you looked at me, your disappointment, the boys mixture of non recognition (who is this strange man, resembling our father?) and the lurk of fear in their eyes after the 'incident'. I have not slept well for some months now and strangely I found it worse in the peace and quiet of our own bedroom, it brought back the nightmares I have not suffered since last autumn on the Somme. To be awakened by your father screaming and crying like a baby, hiding on the floor must be a shock for the poor mites (fathers are supposed to be strong and protect- mine was- to my eternal shame I failed that duty). How could they look at me the same again, I should not have blamed them, hidden from them out of shame, it made things uncomfortable between us at a time when there should only have been us, no black clouds of doubt , just us.

I looked at you all, showing the signs of the hardship the U-Boats have wrought on our country- the boys and yourself looked gaunt, and me in rude health( now the wound has healed), relatively well fed, bronzed by outdoor life-after all the Army can hardly send sickly undernourished men to do it's fighting- and I felt like the worst sort of black market profiteer. I have sent you all my savings from my pay in the hope you may be able to improve your diet in some little way. To my eternal shame I took refuge in the pub where the regulars stood me many a drink, not realising how this would affect my family, who should have had my full attention during my leave.You should not have had to put up with a husband in a drunken stupor and the following days 'illness' brought on by drink, on two of the valuable days of my leave. It was selfish cowardly act and I hate myself for it.

What can I say, other than I humbly beg your and the boys forgiveness and ask for a small amount of forebearance in that the fighting I have been taking part in recently has consumed my life to a larger extent than I realised. I must get out of this war if I am not to finish it barren of spirit, but I cannot, I cannot shirk my duty (even though it is not quite what I thought it would be when I signed up - now I know why you begged me not to - and can see no end to the damned thing), I hope you understand. I want you all to know that my love for you all is often all that keeps me going, and that I beg you all to not lose faith in me, despite my recent poor show. Perhaps the hardest thing for a father to see is the confusion and fear in the eyes of his own children and the disappointment of his wife at his actions, when they are against his own family. I truly, have passed a defining moment of my life, where I realise just what I owe you all, but it is a shame that I had to descend so low to see the path ahead and what I should do.

Tell James and Daniel I love them with all my heart and ask they forgive Daddy, for being a bad man. I miss them so and wish we had not parted on such strained terms. I will write letters to them both soon and make a start at putting things right.

My dear Elaine, please write to me soon, it is your letters that keep me sane in this crazy place. Please forgive me and believe me in my saying that I realise I have to look beyond the end of this war, instead of living for today as I have for the past two years.

I love you so much it makes my heart ache, write soon

Your

K

Second Lieutenant K.D.D. Jameson

11th Bn B##### Regiment

32nd Division

5th Army

B.E.F

( Second Lieutenant Jameson never received his wifes reply, he was killed in a box barrage two days later, as a raid was taking place . He did though write to his boys, who now have the letters as part of their memory of him ).

This is purely a piece of fiction, by the way.....

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Excellant Spike, I could see him sitting writting that with tear in his (and my) eyes. Very moving.

Mandy

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Oh, Spike you have done it agian.

I'm bloody crying!!! :(

Kim

I've got to toughen up. Howthe hell I'm going to get through Ypres and France and Gallipoli with out flooding the cemetries ?

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I'm glad it wasn't just me with tears in my eyes at that letter, and both pictures are brilliant. This is a tough competition.

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Thanks all, for the kind appraisal

Lands.... excellent work- if you had drawn two boys that could have been my man Jameson

"I've got to toughen up. How the hell I'm going to get through Ypres and France and Gallipoli with out flooding the cemetries ?"

Kim -you won't, but you'll remember you visit forever..... B)

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Is it just me, or does it seem that our artists are little lazy this month?

Oh, BTW, happy Valentine's Day...

Any new entries will have to go some to beat my choice so far.

Roland. :)

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Is it just me, or does it seem that our artists are little lazy this month?

Oh, BTW, happy Valentine's Day...

And a happy V day toyou too, Landsturm!

Surely not laziness? perhaps all waiting to spring more matterpieces on us next week!

Marina

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