One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life  (Psalm 27:4)
© Elizabeth McDonald     http://www.bayith.org     bayith@blueyonder.co.uk
We recommend the articles, videos and books/DVDs etc we have included on this page, but please note that we would not necessarily agree with every single word contained therein; neither can we necessarily vouch for the websites or periodicals from which these articles are taken, or any other articles or materials by the same authors, or any groups or ministries or websites with which they may associated, or the beliefs of whatever kind they may hold, or any other aspect of their work or ministry or position.  Likewise, our recommendation here of specific websites/pages does not necessarily imply that we endorse every aspect of that group or ministry.

Bayith Home  |  Political Cultural and Social Issues


Remembrance Sunday
At the Going Down of the Sun, and in the Morning, We Will Remember Them


The Centenary of Armistice Day ~
The Great War 1918~2018
11th November 2018




 

Articles and Videos

The First World War   |   The Poppy   |   In Flanders Fields (The Story of the Poem)

Film: They Shall Not Grow Old   |   Videos and YouTubes   |   Revisionism   |   Did They Die In Vain?   |   In Flanders Fields

The Great War 1914~1918: Poems   |   The Great War 1914~1918: Quotes and Comments   |   The Great War 1914~1918: Books and Websites


The Last Post

 

The First World War: The Great War

Honouring the Fallen  (11 November 2018)

"At the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month of 1918, the guns fell silent. A hundred years ago the barbarous folly of the ruling elites of Europe known to us as the First World War or Great War came to an end. The suffering and scars it caused remain long afterwards and changed the world. How should we remember and more importantly honour those of our forebears who endured so much suffering and sacrificed so much? Is it just enough to once a year listen to the hauntingly sad 'Last Post', and watch the poppies falling in the Albert Hall?..."

They Fought and Died For Freedom - And It Was Not In Vain  (11 November 2018)

"We are now at the centenary of the Great War's end. Many will be asking what the war was for, what did it achieve, was it worth the immense, almost unimaginable cost in lives and suffering? These are questions we should pose whenever we ask others to die on our behalf. It would be deeply callous not to..."

Armistice 100: They Shall Not Grow Old  (11 November 2018)

"Black and white is another world: they do not feel because there are no tears; where blood is grey, there is no pain. The grainy ghosts are trapped in trenches or hanging on the old barbed wire. We've seen them, we've seen them... Or have we partially glimpsed and never really care because they aren't quite here?..."

We Shall Remember Them  (11 November 2018)

"Today I, along with my wife and child, will put on our 'Saturday Best clothes' and will brave the rain and head off into our local town for Remembrance Sunday. We will take our places among many others young and old to pay our respects to those who have served the British armed forces over many years. We will remember those who served with distinction and protected this country and in particular we will remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice..."

Soldiers? No, Britain Lost 700,000 Poets, Teachers, Inventors... and Fathers  (11 November 2018)

"What do you think about during the two minutes silence? I used to think of men at war, and hear in my head the shouts and the clash of arms. Now I see a narrow street of small houses at dusk. A young man in army uniform is embracing his wife and little children in a lighted doorway. He will not return..."

The Proud Memories You Will Never Allow To Fade  (11 November 2018)

"Recollections of families' service and sacrifice..."

YOUTUBE:  They Shall Not Be Forgotten  (11 November 2018)

"A video to commemorate those men on both sides of WW1 that paid the ultimate sacrifice. Lest We Forget."

Preserving God's Image in the Face of Death  (11 November 2018)

"Regardless of what uniform each soldier wore ... underneath [was] an image bearer of God (Genesis 1:27) ... Unfortunately, despite Germany's very blessed past, in relation to the Reformation ... the nation's underlying philosophy had dramatically changed. Darwinism was now clearly Germany's philosophy, which is understood to be an underlying cause in its attitudes to its European neighbours. People such as the biologist, Ernst Haeckel, a devoted Darwinian disciple, had ensured that Social Darwinism had pervaded the thinking of Germany's military, academic, and political leaders, and the populace at large..."

They Loved and Were Loved  (09 November 2018)

"It is said that there isn't any family which hasn't lost at least one of their men in either, or both, of the two world wars... My great-grandmother, Mabel (Ada) Robinson, née Ashby, was one of so many, many women who lost their menfolk in battle. Her husband and both her two brothers died in the Great War..."

The Great War and the Family Ties That Bind Us Together  (06 November 2018)

"The Doiran Memorial stands roughly in the centre of the line occupied for two years by the Allies in Macedonia, but close to the western end, which was held by Commonwealth forces. It marks the scene of the fierce fighting of 1917-1918, which caused the majority of the Commonwealth battle casualties..."

The First World War: One Man's Story  (22 October 2018)

This is just a very short account of just a very small part of the terrible experience of my Great-Uncle Harry on the battlefields of the First World War.

Silence and Sacrifice  (October 2018)

"The last soldiers went 'over the top' at 4.20am on 11th November 1918. The Armistice was signed at 5am in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiegne, France. Then, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, the guns of Europe fell silent. The Great War was over..."

YOUTUBE:  MCMXIV  (07 January 2018)

"Never such innocence; never before or since"  /  Viewers' comments: "The generation that went to war in 1914 was one of the most courageous and patriotic"  /  "Amazing men, made to do the unspeakable"  /   "...only to be betrayed by their own government. Shame on our politicians"  /  "A desperately sad video. The enormity of what we have lost is overwhelming, incomprehensible"  /  "Great Britain once a vestige of Anglo Saxon culture and accomplishment is now reduced to a third world cesspit"

World War One Trench Warfare  (07 January 2017)

"On the 28th of July 1914, World War One began and soldiers from both sides of the battle began digging big holes in the ground where they would live, eat, sleep, fight, and die together. The trenches became the battle ground of The Great War and they became the final resting place for millions of young men ... After six weeks of basic training, the young men were sent to war really unprepared for the unimaginable horrors that lay ahead of them..."

YOUTUBE:  The Trenches in WWI  (17 August 2015)

"An overview of experiences in the trenches from History File"

Remembrance Sunday: Sacrifice, Freedom and Peace  (09 November 2014)

"You've probably never been shot by a sniper or blown to bits by a hand grenade, but sacrifice is agony. It might sound golden, but it is hours of fear and loneliness garnished by the weeds of an obscure grave. We only hear the valiant tales of detachment and farewell. But hearts bled, limbs writhed and voices groaned in rivers of bitterness chocking on the stench of trotting flesh ... They were our boys ... they died to save us..."

100 Facts About World War One - 100 Years After It Began  (08 August 2014)

"This week marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One. Here are 100 facts about that fateful war, 100 years after its beginning..."

Unveiling of the Rothenstein Mural  (20 May 2014)

"The Rothenstein Mural was painted in 1916 as a memorial to members of the British universities serving in the Great War ... 'I happened to be at Oxford where I witnessed the conferring of degrees... The sight of a number of youths, booted and spurred, with their gowns over their khaki, kneeling before the Chancellor to receive their degrees, put me in mind of the age of chivalry, so touching and beautiful were these young figures; and I thought what a fine subject for a memorial painting this would make'..."

YOUTUBE:  WWI Overview  (19 October 2008)

"An introduction to World War I"

 

The Poppy

A Morning Selling Poppies  (11 November 2018)

"Poppies should always be red. The blessings bestowed on our country are overflowing. But if you reach down into our history, also overflowing is the blood of millions of our ancestors and those in recent wars - profusely and thickly and deeply - the earth is socked in the blood of the slain. This Remembrance Sunday, when we stand silent, we will remember those who died, sacrificed and never came home, and those left behind. I hope we never stop wearing our Poppies."

The Poppies Should Always Be Red  (09 November 2018)

"As I waited for the lift, I stared at the Poppy display table next to it. It looked so serene and peaceful, with red poppies strewn over a white cloth, a poppy wreath and a small cross. A simple yet beautiful homage to deep sacrifice and terrible bloodshed..."

Remembrance Day: The Story of the Poppy  (06 November 2017)

"Much of the fighting in the First World War took place in the once peaceful and beautiful countryside of Western Europe. Landscapes, villages and lives were destroyed - torn to pieces by the shelling which took place over the four years of conflict. The once beautiful countryside was transformed into bleak and barren fields of mud where no sign of life could be found. But, it was in one such seemingly-lifeless field that bright red 'Flanders' poppies, surprisingly resilient for their delicate appearance, began to grow..."

YOUTUBE:  Explanation of Poppies and Remembrance  (04 November 2014)

Viewer's comment:  "Very informative and should be relevant to everyone"

We Shall Not Sleep Though Poppies Grow in Flanders Fields  (11 November 2011)

"The 11th November marks the end of the Great War that ended at 11am 11/11/1918, specifically known as Armistice Day. Remembrance day, an alternative name since 1919, holds a 2 minute silence on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month for remembering and reflecting upon the courage and the pure selflessness of [the soldiers'] actions. The significance of the poppy, as it traditionally worn, marks our respect for these heroes who have fought and for those who have lost their lives in the Great War in order to make us free..."

 

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields  (Page Last Edited 01 November 2018)

"John McCrae was inspired to write [his poem] on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres ... Its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the world's most recognised memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict..."

Remembrance  (by Lawrence A. Foxen.  No Date)

"'In Flanders fields, the poppies grow',  Those famous words that we all know.  But through the year and in November,  Do we truly all remember?..."

 

Film: They Shall Not Grow Old

They Shall Not Grow Old on BBC Two  (07 November 2018)

"Peter Jackson's highly anticipated First World War archive feature film They Shall Not Grow Old is to receive its broadcast premiere exclusively on BBC Two in Sunday 11 November at 9.30pm, following its world Premiere at the London Film Festival in October ... It is to those that paid the ultimate price over 100 years ago we owe our freedom today..."

'They Shall Not Grow Old'  (20 October 2018)

"I watched the film 'They Shall Not Grow Old' last Tuesday and felt so moved by it. The film covers the lives of the men and boys who heard of the coming war and signed up for King and Country. Some lads were as young as 15 years old, but big for their age. The recruiting officers when told of their age, told them to go outside, have a few birthdays and come back in.  They did this and then signed up. The film has used black and white stills/videos taken at the time, digitally enhanced and converted to colour. The film shows the terrible conditions that our troops had to suffer..."

FILM DOCUMENTARY:  They Shall Not Grow Old  (16 October 2018)

"A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of the end of the war."

YOUTUBE:  How Peter Jackson Brought to Life WWI Footage in His New Film  (10 October 2018)

Viewers' comments:  "These men paid for our freedom with their lives. I wonder how they would view our modern world where people are 'traumatised' and need 'safe spaces' just from words or ideas they personally do not like. Everyone today is a victim or survivor of some minor event ... These men died or suffered terribly and came home and went back to work. No counselling, no safe spaces ... much respect to Mr Jackson for this great work"  /  "Peter Jackson highlights the 'lack of self pity' that the soldiers had after the war. Compare that to rampant 'victim mentality' amongst young people today"  /  "Every school in the UK should show this film"  /  "Probably the UK's best generation of men ... that today is long gone, and will never get back"  /  "God bless them all and God bless you for keeping their memory alive. Thank you."

 

Videos and YouTubes

YOUTUBE:  Do Not Let Their Blood Have Been Shed in Vain  (11 November 2018)

"They loved God, king, and country. They loved this land and they loved our nation. Yes, they loved you and me. And what I want to ask is, do we return that love? Do we appreciate and remember that great sacrifice? And do we strive every day to preserve our fine civilisation they they made such a sacrifice for? It is time now for the British Lion to rise again..."

YOUTUBE:  Why We Remember - 100 years On From Armistice  (11 November 2018)

Viewer's comment: "Thank you for this truly moving report. I have lain wreathes at Menin Gate several times and visited countless cemeteries. Just like you, I can't help welling up seeing the sheer scale of the sacrifice these brave young men and women made for the defence of our country. It is unforgiveable that our governments past and present are happy to hand over our sovereignty to a foreign dictatorship when so many people suffered hardship and sacrifice for King and country"

YOUTUBE:  Interview: Nigel Farage on WWI  (11 November 2018)

"Nigel Farage gives an exclusive interview on WW1 and its impact today. We talk about the left's attempt to re-write history, mental health, war poetry, and poppies."

YOUTUBE:  Under an English Heaven  (02 January 2018)

Poems:  England, My England - William Ernest Henley, and The Soldier - Rupert Brooke.

YOUTUBE:  The Last Post (Violin)  (27 April 2016)

"Having had our ANZAC Day commemorations and memorial this past Monday, I felt inspired to pay my own tribute to our brave ANZACs, including both of my Great Grandfathers. Sadly, neither of them made it home. To those who served then and to those who serve now, I thank you. Here is my rendition of The Last Post.  Lest we forget..."

YOUTUBE:  The Battle  (Written and Recorded 1969 / Uploaded 08 November 2014)

"In the early dawn the Bishop's men / Shivered in the damp / But the shiver came not from the cold / And spread throughout the camp / The trembling horses sensed the fear / Of silent thoughtful men / Who prayed that wives and families / Might see them once again..."

YOUTUBE:  No Man's Land / Green Fields of France / Willie McBride  (Written 1976 / This Version Uploaded 20 September 2014)

"Well how do you do, Private William McBride / Do you mind if I sit here down by your grave side? / A rest for awhile in the warm summer sun / I've been walking all day and I'm nearly done / And I see by your gravestone that you were only nineteen / When you joined the glorious fallen in nineteen-sixteen..."

 

Revisionism

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves ... proud ... disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection ... fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God ... ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth ... their folly shall be manifest unto all men" (2 Timothy 3:1-4,7,9)

1914 - 1918: The War to Start All Wars Up Again  (10 November 2018)

"The nation's youngsters have dutifully and thoroughly gobbled up all the propaganda fed to them by their teachers and by the scriptwriters and presenters of the many programmes made to mark the centenary of the ending of the First World War..."

The Poppy

Our Pride in the Poppy  (15 October 2018)

"What has really stuck with me through the years were the ages of the fallen, they were all so young, they never had a life. Yet modern youth ... who have never done anything but whine, feel able to condemn a single moment in a year when we can remember the sacrifice of those that gave us our today" / "We remember those who gave their lives for us because (1) It is the right thing to do, (2) It stops us repeating the mistakes of the past. These spoilt and delicate children have no idea what is the right thing to do and no idea what they are destroying and thus what they are creating for the future" / "May we never break faith. The young don't know there are things worth dying for."

The Poppy Doesn't Glorify War, You Cambridge Snowflakes. It Recognises Our Debt to the Fallen  (14 October 2018)

"There is no glorification of the horror of war in Remembrance Sunday. Wearing a poppy doesn't, to use that horrible neologism, 'valorise' anything. We are simply acknowledging a debt ... That we live in a free and democratic country is something we owe to all of them, and we recognise this through acts of collective remembrance. It's difficult to believe this needs restating to anyone, let alone to the privileged elites who attend institutions such as Cambridge University, but it seems it does..."

Down With England's Past  (13 October 2018)

"The Students' Union of Cambridge University ... has voted not to celebrate Remembrance Day because it 'glorifies war' ... That's like saying that a woman weeping for her departed husband thereby glorifies the cancer that killed him ... The entire history of England is, according to [UK students] one uninterrupted chain of oppression, injustice, slavery ... and every other sin than which nothing worse exists. Hence we should spit on the graves of those who died defending this awful place, including presumably those 20,000 Royal Navy sailors who laid down their lives trying to stop the slave trade in the early nineteenth century..."

The Rothenstein Mural

A War Memorial? No, A Contemptible Symbol of White Male Privilege  (26 October 2018)

"This week we see how identity politics can make you a cruel, self-indulgent fool who lacks all self-awareness as well as compassion or empathy ... Ms Dawes ... didn't see sacrifice ... she didn't see hope or despair ... [she] didn't see young men being sent to their death, off to the Somme or some other hell on earth to be machine-gunned down in the prime of their life. Instead she saw 'white male privilege' ... So yes, Ms Dawes is a disgrace to her university. And a disgrace to her sex..."

UK Student Leader Demands 'White Men' War Hero Memorial Be Destroyed  (25 October 2018)

"Emily Dawes, the president of the University of Southampton Student Union, vowed to vandalise the memorial unless sit was taken down ... The mural, displayed at the heart of the leading university's campus, depicts fallen soldiers - who were students before they left to fight in the Great War - picking up the degrees they [lived] to finish..." [Please see the comments under the line.]

In Flanders Fields

"In Flanders Fields"?  (12 November 2018)

"[T]he foe of which John McCrae wrote were not the people in the opposite trenches. The foe were tyranny and dictatorship ... our soldiers knew this ... Have we still not learned that 'the foe' is not a race but a tyrannical ideology? Have we still not learned that appeasement does not work? Have we become so brainwashed, so soaked in 'feminism', that we regard any fighting as abhorrent and never mind that there are good reasons to fight? Survival, for example? Our children and young people seem to have been taught that it's better to get raped peacefully than to stand up and fight... Yes, we have indeed dropped the torch! Yes, we have indeed broken faith with those who died and lie in Flanders Fields! ... and yes, we will have to bear the consequences in the years to come..."

Immature Arrogance

A Tweet From a Young Remainer  (16 June 2016)

In voting to leave the European Union in 2016, we voted for the future freedom of our children and grandchildren as our forebears fought in the wars last century for our freedom. Tragically, we did not realise that in sending our children to state schools and universities we had been turning their hearts and minds from grateful respect for the sacrifices of their forefathers unto arrogant and ignorant contempt, from truth unto error, from good unto evil, and ultimately from life unto death as they will become 'once more slaves'.

Poor Fools...

"Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks.
Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools.
And their grandchildren are once more slaves."

 

Did They Die In Vain?

From Dark November Morn to April Evening  (19 November 2018)

"In the morning dark of Armistice Sunday I was walking home from the village war memorial where at sic o'clock we had listened to a lone piper playing 'The Battle's O'er' ... I wondered what these veterans would have thought if they had known the scheming that went into the European project ... Having fought for the familiar freedoms and laws of their own country, would they have relished the idea of being kept in the dark about a totally new system of government by foreigners, including former enemies? It was a terrible insult to their service and showed what the plotters of the planned Eurostate thought of them..."

All That Vanished Glory  (11 November 2018)

"The conflict of 1914-1918 stands as the Great Divide of our time ... all those forces of cultural destruction were given a power assist by the Great War ... Consider this partial list, beginning with the most important: Bolshevism... Women's lib... World government... Pacifism... When nihilism takes hold of a culture, is there any way it can be reversed without a complete societal collapse?..."

Did They Die in Vain?  (10 November 2018)

"As this is Remembrance Weekend, a cynic might be tempted to ask whether those who so courageously and so patriotically gave their lives in the last two wars would be pleased at what has happened to the country, the traditions and the freedoms they fought to defend:..."

 

In Flanders Fields

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.

We are the Dead.  Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
  Loved and were loved, and now we lie
       In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
  The torch; be yours to hold it high.
  If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
       In Flanders fields.

John McCrae, MD,
Canadian Army (1872-1918)

 

 

 

"[T]he foe of which John McCrae wrote were not the people in the opposite trenches.
The foe were tyranny and dictatorship ... our soldiers knew this ...
Yes, we have indeed dropped the torch! Yes, we have indeed broken faith with those who died and lie in Flanders Fields! ...
and yes, we will have to bear the consequences in the years to come..."

[source]

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

 

 

© Bayith Ministries     http://www.bayith.org     bayith@blueyonder.co.uk