[Pylon1357]

This is a very interesting topic. Not so much the photos, but the discussions and points of view the images have raised.

I spent 11 months reviewing every service file of IRrC soldiers who died during WW2. I must say I have seen some very disturbing things. For instance, can any of you imagine my feelings when I opened my uncles Service file and saw his Pay Book. It is kept in one of the breast pockets. It had blood on it....HIS BLOOD. Another file I opened the pay book was torn to pieces, this was the result of a Mortar training accident, the bomb went off in the tube.

Another file I looked at was for my father, he was curious about his cousin who was KIA with the GGHG. He was a tank driver. I read a very good description of his death in a book about the GGHG, so I knew what had happened to the fellow. This still did not prepare me for finding his pay book 1/2 burnt and torn up.

After seeing all this in the service records, I have a much better understanding of the pain and suffering these men went through so far from home.

I read a few comments about these young people going off to war for adventure and the chance to see the world. I suspect that NONE of these soldiers ever dreamed they not return home.

Now that my rant is over.... These photos, however very interesting and moving in their own right, simply do not give one the impression of the true pain and loss felt during the wars. If someone wants to get an idea of the true loss, look at a KIA service file. You will see medical reports if the fellow DOW, these are very graphic explanations of the injuries. Family information, which gives the soldier a sense of identity. Pay Books when recovered, will quite often be damaged or stained. But above all, the correspondence between the families at home and the DND. Many of the letters from families are full of pain and heart-ache.

I sum it up this was (maybe over simplified, however it my way) For the soldiers who died, the pain, suffering and terror are over, they are at rest. It is the living who have to carry with them the pain and suffering until they are laid to rest.