tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post474896353020665723..comments2024-03-09T11:34:22.175+00:00Comments on The History Girls: The historical personage I love best, by K. M. GrantMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-30143570530156426652012-07-29T12:04:34.533+01:002012-07-29T12:04:34.533+01:00Thanks to frequent power cuts I've only just b...Thanks to frequent power cuts I've only just been able to read this but it was worth the wait. A moving, informative tribute to the concept of the Unknown Soldier. I agree with K M Grant's analysis of how the pathos of a soldier so mutilated by war as to be unrecognisable transcends all national and historical boundaries. Wonderful article, thank you.griselda heppelhttp://www.antesinferno.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-20969642581233508532012-07-28T09:34:47.187+01:002012-07-28T09:34:47.187+01:00In 1938, at the time of the Munich crisis, my fath...In 1938, at the time of the Munich crisis, my father was a Church Army cadet (which meant he did social work in poor areas of London. He wrote in his unpublished memoir that the cadets were asked to join a vigil of continuous prayer at the Unknown Soldier's tomb. He said: Together with two or three others I covered the period during the hours immediately before dawn. To be practically alone in the small hours of the morning at such a place was very moving.' It moves me to think of those young men, some of whom must have themselves been destined to be killed in battle, pitting their prayers against Hitler's monstrous determination to thrust the world into another war. <br />As you say, it is a humane monument, and to me, it has always pointed up the human cost of war, as opposed to the grandiose statues and paintings of commanders on horseback and sporting all their braid and medals. Thank you for this post.Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.com