Remembrance Day this year, for me, is particularly poignant, bringing back memories of my parents, now both at rest.
My father spent his youth in the army during WW2, largely as a motorcycle dispatch rider, who sometimes found himself behind enemy lines. I am so grateful he survived.
He had good times as well, spending a fair chunk of the war in Greece and surrounding areas, and would often regale us with tales, such as the occasion he dived into a rock pool and came face to face with a startled octopus!
My mother’s life, as I recounted recently, took a different path to her school-leaving intentions, with war closing universities and preventing her from pursuing the career path she’d planned – the first of so many times she re-invented her life, a gift I feel I have inherited, with ability to be flexible and choose a new path when one closes in your face.
I am also a long-term supporter of The Brooke, an equestrian charity set up by Dorothy Brooke in the post WW1 years to offer succour to the huge number of war horses (those who did not give their lives in service) who were abandoned and sold into hard labour in middle eastern lands, rather than bear the cost of repatriation. I, for one, cannot forgive that cruelty, though the charity now does amazing work amongst equines across a wide range of countries, particularly in educating their owners in their care and improving working conditions.
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The number of horses that were lost to war is staggering.
And so often forgotten 😦
Along with all the animals who served without choice.
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I was reading about the horses in the Boer War, Deborah. A huge number died during the war because they couldn’t cope with the heat after the long sea voyage from England to South Africa. Very sad.
Horses are often the forgotten victims of war, and yet until recently, war couldn’t be forged without them 😦
Yes, that is true.
What a worthy charity. Thank you for doing this. I had no idea they were abandoned.
Thanks for taking the time to read this – I still find it shocking and heart breaking that the very animals who gave as unstintingly as horses do, could be abandoned abroad on financial grounds, ending up in miserable existences where they were too often worked to death. Literally.
Deb, a beautiful tribute. And yes, what of all the horses that were lost in war. A wonderful reminder. ❤
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