This Remembrance, Find Out More About Your Military Family History

Online, November 2, 2010 (Newswire.com) - A spike in military family research is expected around Remembrance Sunday as thoughts turn to how relatives were affected by the two world wars. Most people have a personal connection with the events remembered, having had relatives who were part of the war effort.

Two Salisbury based resources are fantastic places to find out more about your military ancestors. The Army Museums Ogilby Trust which has offices in The Close runs a website www.armymuseums.org.uk that helps people trace their army ancestors. Brig Colin Sibun from AMOT says: "There is a growing fascination with family history research and military records can provide valuable information about where soldiers served, the operations in which they took part, any decorations for bravery they may have received and how they progressed through the ranks."

"People often use us as a starting point for their research. Our website offers help on the best places to find Army Records ranging from the Ministry of Defence and The National Archives to the family history records held by regimental and corps museums throughout the United Kingdom. We have catalogued the best places to go to find details of your ancestors and have a 4,000 volume regimental bibliography to direct users to further reference material," he adds.

The site is also the definitive guide to the 136 military museums around the UK, and includes contact details, opening times and what you can expect to see there. Visiting an army museum can help bring to life what conditions were like for those in the war and further your understanding of what your relatives went through.

Another excellent resource, run by Salisbury based Lt Col Graham Parker, is www.greatwar.co.uk. This site provides an overview of the First World War battlefields on the Western Front by showing you where they are, what happened there and what can be seen today.

It is a website for the war years 1914-1918. The site contains a 'Timeline', and considerable information about, 'people, war graves, medals, poems, art, and interesting articles associated with the period'. The site also offers much advice and information in the 'resources and links' section, for those who wish to find more information about relatives who took part in the war. There is helpful advice for those who wish to visit the battle areas in Belgium and France.

As we approach the 11th November, readers may also be interested in finding out how the red field poppy came to be accepted as an internationally recognised symbol of Remembrance (full story at www.greatwar.co.uk/article/remembrance-poppy.htm).

By 1915 much of the landscape in the battle areas had been totally destroyed, but out of the devastated ground one of the plants that began to grow in clusters on and around the battle zones was the red field poppy.

The sight of these delicate, vibrant red flowers growing on the shattered ground caught the attention of a Canadian soldier John McCrae, who composed the famous lines written in relation to the war:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place, and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

The idea of the red Flanders poppy as a modern-day symbol of Remembrance was the inspiration of an American woman, Miss Moina Michael. On the 9th November 1918 she saw a copy of the "Ladies Home Journal" containing a vivid colour illustration to the poem entitled "We Shall Not sleep", this was an alternative title used for John McCrae's poem, "In Flanders Fields". She found the poem deeply spiritual and felt as though she was actually being called in person by the voices that had been silenced by death. She was moved to "keep the faith" and vowed always to wear a red poppy of Flanders Fields as a sign of remembrance. It would become an emblem for "keeping Faith with all who died."

By September 1920, the National American Legion agreed on the use of the Flanders Fields Memorial Poppy as the United States' national emblem of Remembrance. Madame Guerin of France was inspired by the idea and introduced the sale of paper poppies to raise funds for war veterans in July 1921. She also visited Field Marshal Earl Haig, founder and President of the British Legion, and persuaded him to adopt the Flanders Poppy as the emblem for the British Legion.

ENDS

Editors notes:

www.armymuseums.co.uk is the website for The Army Museums Ogilby Trust, a registered charity founded in 1954 by the late Colonel Robert Ogilby DSO, DL. The offices are located in The Close, Salisbury.

Interviews/further information:
To arrange an interview with Brig Colin Siburn, please contact him on 01722 332188
Colin will be unavailable on 3rd, 5th, 8th and 9th November.

www.greatwar.co.uk is A Guide to WW1 Battlefields and History of the First World War. The site is run by Lt Col Graham Parker, OBE, (Retired) from Wilton, his daughter Joanna Legg and her husband David. They also run Rembrella Ltd, a family business started in 1998 with the launch of the poppy umbrella with sales now nearing 100,000. The umbrellas widen the image of Remembrance throughout the year and raise funds for Service charities. Their website can be found at www.rembrella.co.uk. Images from the sites may be reproduced, with a credit line to the relevant site.

To arrange an interview with Lt Col Graham Parker, please contact him on 01722 744898.