Sweet Wayfaring

World War 2 influenced the lives of us Baby Boomers in lots of ways and the blanket on this bed reminded me of one of them.  As kids we had old Army blankets like this on our beds at home.  They were heavy and not at all warm.  I was glad that I slept with my sister so we could cuddle together for warmth but we still fought over whose feet got to be on the hot water bottle. That ends this series.  Haven't got anything new to post here so will be gone again for a while.

The terrible slaughter did end but with 60,000 from our small nation lost.

Today is Anzac Day when we remember Australians who served and died in all wars and this year is the commemoration of 100 years since World War 1.  So I thought I would honour the day by finding a WW 1 story from my family. This photo is of my grandfather Charles (at the front left) and his brothers, my great uncles Ray, Bob, Les, Jim and Joe.  You will notice the three at the back are in uniform. My great grandparents Anne and Joseph married very young and over a span of 30 years had 15 children -- 8 boys and 7 girls. One died as a little boy. The rest of the family grew to adulthood, then war came. In May 1915 23 year old John joined up.  He was soon followed by his big brother Bob who was getting on a bit at age 42.   And a month later Les who was just 18 went off to war too. They were all sent to Egypt. Bob was sent home from Egypt unfit for service a year later.  John and Les were transferred to fight in France.  Meanwhile, as soon as he turned 18, Ray joined up and wa

A while ago we went to the War Memorial to check out the new World War 1 gallery -- they have done a wonderful job of marrying the old dioramas and museum objects with new technology like big screen images and touch tablets making for a truly informative visit.