And if I laugh at any mortal thing, tis that I may not weep*
by chuckofish
Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of end of World War I. I’ve blogged about our family’s participation on more than one occasion. Over the last four years, the war has received a lot of attention and inspired some wonderful memorials, exhibitions, and history projects.
American cemetery Meuse-Argonne
One of the best WWI archival projects I’ve come across is the web site Epitaphs of the Great War that collects the headstone inscriptions of the war dead. Not only have the compilers researched the deceased, but they have tracked down the literary and religious sources for the memorials. For example, the headstone on Private Edwin Frederick Jones’s grave reads, “May no wanton hand ever disturb his remains,” which turns out to be last line of James Fenimore Cooper’s The Prairie and the epitaph inscribed on the hero Natty Bumppo’s grave.
Families were often creative with epitaphs, although many stuck to tried and true phrases like “Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away” or something from Shakespeare: “Fear no more the heat of the sun, nor the furious winter’s rages.” One family even used “che sera sera”! Do visit the site and spend some time reading about the young men who lost their lives all those years ago. Unfortunately, many graves have no names; those men are “known unto God”.
I can’t help feeling that the fanfare and research of the last four years are meant to end our remembering — as if to say we can stop thinking about WWI now because it happened a hundred years ago. Yet major wars have a way of holding on, even when we want to forget. Just think of how the Civil War continues to haunt us. As for WWI, laborers in Belgium and France will continue to discover bodies at a rate of more than forty a year whether or not we choose to remember. The dead will have their day.
Don’t forget to wear a poppy and take a moment to be silent tomorrow at 11 am, on the 11th day of the 11th month.
P.S. In other news son #2 god a job! He will be the new arts and entertainment editor of the newspaper, the Idaho Mountain Express! Meanwhile, across the country in northern NY his parents will spend the weekend frantically emptying their kitchen because the big kitchen redo starts on Monday. Stay tuned for updates!
*Byron, Don Juan, and also the epitaph on Private Alan Yardley’s grave.
dual personalities 
A lovely post! I will surely spend some time perusing that website. And congrats to son #2!
I like the inscription on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster: “They buried him among the kings because he had done good toward God and toward His house.” (Composed by Herbert Ryle, Dean of Westminster in 1920).
Oh, that is great!
Your reference to the epitaph – ‘May no wanton hand ever disturb his remains’ is found on the gravestone of my great uncle Evan Frederick Jones. He died 9 days after his younger brother Albert Rees Jones, who died in conflict. Both were sons of my great grandparents William and Mary Jones of Breconshire, who were farmers. Their mother Mary has pre-deceased both of her sons.
I do not know quite why my great grandfather chose that inscription but thank you for mentioning it.
Thank you for commenting.