Remembrance 2025

In November, I observe the two minutes' silence for Remembrance Sunday - to commemorate Armistice Day on 11th November 1918, the end of hostilities in the First World War. In doing so, I remember those from the UK who made the supreme sacrifice in the defence of freedom, in Europe and beyond.

In May, I observe the two minutes' silence for Remembrance Day on 4th May, the eve of the capitulation by Nazi-German force in the Netherlands, at the end of the Second World War, which took place on 5th May 1945.

The focus in the Netherlands tonight will be remembering the victims of the persecution of Jews and others during the Nazi occupation of 5 years, between 1940 and 1945. More than 100,000 Jews were deported to extermination camps like Auschwitz.

In the past, church bells would be rung in times of danger. Although perhaps appearing contradictory, I have always turned to this recording of the St Peter's bell in Cologne cathedral.

Have we learned the lessons of history?

Remembrance

I make a point of observing Remembrance Sunday in November. There is another Remembrance Day, in May.

On 8th May 1945, Nazi-Germany capitulated to the Allied forces in Europe. Three days earlier, the Nazis had surrendered in the Netherlands, following a brutal occupation of just short of 5 years. During that time, more than 105,000 Jews had been deported and killed in concentration camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dachau and Bergen-Belsen. Their fate is epitomised by Anne Frank. And by the fact that many synagogues in Holland were repurposed after the war, as there was nobody left to worship there.

Tomorrow evening, 4th May, at 8pm local time, two minutes' silence will be observed across the Netherlands. People will stop, trains and buses will halt, bells will toll and a bugler will sound the Last Post. In memory of those who gave their all for their country.

I post a video of the bells of the Dom Cathedral in Cologne in Germany. We forgive - if we can. We do not forget - what led to the atrocity that was the holocaust.

Remembrance

I always make a point of observing Remembrance Sunday in November, the anniversary of the end of the First World War.

Being Dutch, I also make a point of observing the Remembrance of the Dead of the Second World War in the Netherlands. This evening at 8pm, wreaths will be lain by King Willem Alexander at the National Memorial in Dam Square in Amsterdam, with a heavy focus on the victims of the Holocaust.

Of the 8.7 million people who were living in the Netherlands in 1939, 110,000 were killed in the gas chambers of the Nazi concentration camps. That equates to 1% of the population at the time. Why were they killed? Mostly because they were Jewish.

May 5th in Holland, incidentally, is Liberation Day, when the commander of the occupaying Nazi German forces surrendered to the Dutch authorities, ending 5 years of brutal occupation.
This is a memorial at Camp Westerbork from where thousands of Dutch Jews were deported to Auschwitz and other extermination camps during WW2.One of them was a 14-year old girl called Anne Frank.

11 January 2005

Eighteen years ago today, a violent storm struck the Outer Hebrides. Gusts reached 134 mph or 216 km/h at Castlebay, and 100 mph or 160 km/h in Stornoway. As darkness fell, after 4 o'clock, hapless pedestrians in the centre of Stornoway struggled to make headway along the streets, but some hostelries would not open their doors to them. If memory serves, one or two people sustained injuries. 

At the time, I was staying in Cearsiadar, a hamlet 10 miles south of Stornoway as the gull flies, 22 miles by road. The power went off at 6.20pm, and did not come back on for 48 hours. At Sildenis, a few miles west of Ciarsiadar, the electricity remained offline for six days. I watched across Loch Erisort, hidden in the darkness, as flashing blue lights emerged on the main Stornoway to Tarbert road. A busdriver, heading for the district of South Lochs, reported a sheep flying past his windscreen at Laxay. The police thereupon closed the road. The night was filled with the sound of the wind roaring, although the silence on the radiowaves was deafening and scary. Only the signal of BBC Radio Scotland on 810 kHz, mediumwave, continued. The island based transmitters all went offline because electricity pylons, feeding power from Harris north to Lewis, were blown down like so many matchsticks. Even the main site at Eitsal, outside the village of Achmore, was not functioning. Roofs were blown off buildings, a line of trees in Balallan was flattened. Trees in the Lews Castle Grounds at Stornoway fell down, some blocking the main road into town from the south. For many days afterwards, the Grounds had to be closed to walkers out of concern for their safety. 

A lot of damage, a lot of inconvenience. When I was finally able to travel into town on the 13th, people were relieved, as it could have been so much worse. Well, it actually was worse than damage and inconvenience. 

Word began to seep out of the Southern Isles that five members of one family had been reported missing the morning after the storm. They had set off from their home in Lionacuidhe, South Uist, for Benbecula. They fled in terror at the wind, the pebbles being hurled against the windows and walls and the fearing encroachment by the sea nearby. I know the road they travelled, I drove down it one July evening four years later. The road runs parallel to the South Ford, which separates South Uist and Benbecula. To the south lies the large inland Loch Bì. That night, the stormforce winds blew the waters of the loch northwards, until they met the outflow under the road linking Lionacuidhe and Iochdar. It is only a narrow culvert, and the loch is large. The road runs on eastwards until it meets the main spinal route through Uist, the A865, which crosses the South Ford via a causeway, a solid barrier with only a few culverts to allow the flowing of the tides. That night, the tide rose through the channel and met the barrier, and combined with the flood from Loch Bì to cause a stormsurge which swept across the road from Lionacuidhe. It swept away the two cars carrying the family of five, a grandfather, his daughter and son-in-law, and the younger couple's young children. They were all eventually found on the shores of the South Ford, their lives claimed by the storm. 

In my 18 years in the Outer Hebrides, I have experienced many gales and storms. The storm of January 11th, 2005, remains vivid in my memory, haunted by the images of the two young children as they smile out of the BBC news item that reported their demise. I cannot bear to post the actual images in this blogpost.

National Blog Posting Month 2022 - #11

 On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the guns fell silent on the Western Front, out at sea and across other theatres of engagement of what was then known as the Great War. After millions had lost their lives in a conflict that had come to span the globe, hostilities came to an end. For just under twenty years. 

Seven weeks later, two hundred and one sailors returning home to the island of Lewis in Scotland were lost when their transport, His Majesty's Yacht Iolaire sank after hitting rocks just outside Stornoway. Of those lost, the bodies of more than sixty were never recovered. The island community, which had been celebrating the end of four years of war, which had claimed more than a thousand of their number, was cast into profound mourning. The echoes of that terrible loss can still be felt today. 

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them

Aig àm dol fodha na grèine agus anns a’ mhadainn
Bidh sinn gan cuimhneachadh

National Blog Posting Month 2022 - #04

Today is the 4th anniversary of the death of one of my on-line friends, Donna Diggins. I first encountered her back in 2005, blogging under the AOL screenname of nightmaremom. She was all into (American ice) hockey, her family and producing so-called tags, little works of on-line art. Donna shared imagery of the savage weather that sometimes affects the Lakes, with ice-encrusted trees, cars and houses. 

Early in 2018, she confided in me regarding a recurrence of bladder cancer, and as the year progressed, her condition worsened. In the evening of November 4th, at about 10pm, word came that she had been released from suffering. I never met Donna in person, but she was as large as life, sassy and inclusive.

Donna lives on in the minds of those who knew her, whether in person or through this imperfect medium. 

National Blog Posting Month 2022 - #03

 November 3rd today, and our changeable weather continues. Today it is 4 years ago since the death of one of my local friends, Sophia. I had first met her in 2013, but lost touch. Nonetheless, she was one of those people in this life that touch you, if not physically. She left behind grieving relatives, over in her native Australia, and friends around the globe. Sophia classed herself as a mermaid, and engaged in wild swimming in the sea. Even in these cool latitudes. One of our shared interests was cats. Her little cat, Torran, was found wandering outside her house afterwards, and was kindly taken in by a local friend. She is still there, down in Uist, but will meet Sophia again beyond the Rainbow Bridge.

Swim free, friend.

National Blog Posting Month 2022 - #01

Today sees the start of National Blog Posting Month. Those who feel so inclined can post on their blog each day.

1st November is Samhann, the start of winter in the Celtic calendar. The winter half-year ends on April 30th, St Walpurgis Night, when the evil spirits are banished back into darkness. But  that is still six months away. As daylight recedes, we remember those who have gone on ahead in the past twelve months. Among those is my father, who passed away in August at the age of 88. 

Here in the J-land community, we mourn the loss of six of our number:
Jackie Moore (71), 22 October
Vivian Sullivan Nwankpah (69), 29 March
Celeste N Eatherton (57), 13 March
Jan Eadie, 5 March
Barbara C Masters (61), 23 February
John E Knox, 18 February

We grieve their passing, in the sure knowledge that they will rise again, at the Breaking of the Day, when all the Shadows flee away.

NaBloPoMo - 21 November

My daily blog posting appears to have fallen by the wayside, regrettably. Never mind. Went to the Remembrance Day commemorations in Stornoway last Sunday. The weather was not good, a steady drizzle falling amidst a chilly wind. Nonetheless, 180 people made it up the hill to the tower. Wreaths were laid, by young and old. We stood in silence for two minutes to remember the nearly two thousand men and women who had made the supreme sacrifice in both World Wars, as well as in other conflicts since 1945.

January 2005 storm - In Memoriam

 On Tuesday 11 January 2005, we were about to experience the worst storms in 50 years. At 3pm, exactly as forecast, the wind whipped up to hurricane force. Powerlines went down all over the island, leaving people without electricity for anything between a few hours and up to 6 days. Property damage was widespread and severe.

Staying in South Lochs at the time, I lost power at 6.20 that evening, not to get it back for 48 hours. From the darkness, I could see blue flashing lights across Loch Erisort. Later, it became clear that this was the police, closing the A859 Stornoway to Tarbert road. A lorry driver had reported as sheep flying past his windscreen. The driver on the last bus into South Lochs had a terrifying time keeping his vehicle on the straight and narrow.

By 6pm, people in Stornoway were physically blown off their feet. Some sustained injuries as a result. Trees in the Castle Grounds were falling like match sticks, boats were ripped off their moorings and tossed onto the harbour wall at the Newton Basin. Flooding affected the town centre.
Down in the Southern Isles, a family of five found their home in Iochdar, South Uist, being pounded by pebbles and flying spray from the nearby sea. A flurry of phonecalls arranged a move across the causeway into Benbecula. Two cars would carry the grandfather, two parents and two young children across the few miles.

Dawn broke at 9 o’clock. The islanders, from Barra to Lewis, were mentioning that it had been a particularly nasty one, and people were comparing notes what damage everyone had sustained. A phonecall disturbed the sense of relief. People were reported missing in South Uist. A search party started combing the South Ford, which separates Benbecula from South Uist. The bodies of five people were found in the course of the next few days. They were those of a grandfather, two parents and their young children.

The funeral service, a few days later, was attended by 1,500 people, one out of every three islanders in the Southern Isles. Only 500 could actually enter the church, the rest followed the service outside, as it was relayed through loudspeakers.

Total damage was estimated to be worth £15 million, including severe storm damage to the causeway system stretching from Berneray to Eriskay. Repairs are only now being carried out.

This post is dedicated to the memory of those lost in the Iochdar tragedy.

Armistice Day - NaBloPoMo #11

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the guns fell silent. Fifteen million lay dead. Just because an archduke got shot in Sarajevo? Because the royal houses of Europe decided to have a family tiff? No, it's never as simplistic as that. But this post is not about the reasons for the Great War. It is about those fifteen million. Servicemen from all sides, civilians from all sides. It was the age of duty, you signed up because you felt it was your duty. Duty towards King and Country. If you didn't volunteer, if you tried to dodge the draft, you were a coward. You could be handed a white feather, oh the disgrace. But that overlooked the genuine panic and fear that had some 3,000 shot at dawn. Only very recently have these unfortunate souls been exonerated, and their honour restored to them.

Over the past 15 years or so, I have been active to compile listings of the men from the island of Lewis in particular, and from the Outer Hebrides in general, who went to war from August 1914 until November 1918. When focusing on Lewis, their number stands at roughly 6,200. The number of dead is not set in tablets of stone; I have it at roughly 1,300. It matters not. Of that number, 181 were lost seven weeks after the Armistice, when their transport, HMY Iolaire, sank off Stornoway. Twenty others were Iolaire crew.

We all fall silent at 11 in the morning on November 11th. I have marked the occasion for thirty years now, initially listening to the event on BBC Radio 4 longwave, 198 kHz. Not until I came to Stornoway, in November 2004, did I start to actively observe the Armistice. I have photographed the war memorials here, each stating the war to have ended in 1919, unlike everywhere else in the UK, where the end year is 1918. I have photographed over 400 wargraves and war-related gravestones in the island's cemeteries. I have compiled my findings on several websites, for all to see - at no charge. It's not for money that I have done this work.

Lest we forget.

Remembrance Sunday - NaBloPoMo #10

Remembrance Sunday across the United Kingdom, when the Fallen from two World Wars and conflicts since are remembered. Two minutes' silence at 11 o'clock in the morning. This marks the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, when the guns fell silent, the end of the Great War. It later became the First World War, because less than 21 years later, the guns fired up again, and for six years, the world became a battlefield again. Even after two atomic bombs, dropped on two Japanese cities, war did not disappear from the face of the earth. Korea, Suez, Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Falklands, the Balkans, Iraq, the Middle East generally - we have to accept war as a fact of life.

I conclude this post with one of the war memorials in the island of Lewis. This one can be found in the village of Breacleit in Great Bernera, which is an island off mainland Lewis, 25 miles west of Stornoway. Its tiny villages haemorrhaged young men during two world wars, remembered here. You may not have heard of Breaclete, Croir, Valasay, Tobson, Hacklete, Kirkibost; or Earshader, Crulivig and Lundale on mainland Lewis, part of Bernera.

Lest we forget