I share a personal family anecdote.

My grandfather’s brother served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during WW1, serving some time in Egypt.  Within his line of duty, he treated casualties from both sides. It is difficult to comprehend the atrocities he would have encountered and been forced to deal with on a daily basis. He became friends with one of his German patients, who out of gratitude gave him his field binoculars.

During WW2 whilst carrying out his duties as a member of the home guard he was shot in the face with blanks which blinded him for a time.  In 1942 he shot his wife before shooting himself; my aunt still remembers the day the news came to the rest of the family.  There was an inquest which concluded that his being shot in the face had caused blood clots which led to the actions he took.

Unlike his brother, my grandfather didn’t serve in WW1 although he did try to join the Navy on two occasions.  On the first occasion he did join up and received the ‘King’s shilling’ only to be told by his mother to take it back.  The second time he tried to join up his boss persuaded him against it.  He was in a reserved occupation and therefore not obliged to sign up and take part in the conflict.

Some years ago the German field binoculars were passed on to me along with a pair of my grandfather’s binoculars.  The binoculars that belonged to my great uncle are a poignant reminder of the futility of war and the consequences of power and greed but most importantly they remind me of man’s humanity to his fellow men.

When I went to get the binoculars out of the cupboard to take the photograph to go with this post I got both pairs of binoculars out and it was only then that I realised that the second pair were English Army issue from WW1 and that they must have belonged to my great uncle before my grandfather.

This personal story highlights the effects of PTSD, that many service men suffer, even now in more recent conflicts.

One of the books I am currently reading is ‘The Poppy; A history of conflict, loss, remembrance & redemption’ by Nicholas J. Saunders. The book presents aspects of the beauty, pain, pleasure and tragedy of the poppy throughout history. Nicholas takes us on a journey from Ancient Egypt right through to the current day and the more recent conflict in Afghanistan.

As I was reading the book the following passage stood out and gave me pause for thought:

During the 1960s and 1970s, antelope and water buffalo became opium addicts during the conflicts in Vietnam and Cambodia. In normal times, the animals consume just enough of the opium poppy to numb pain or relieve tiredness, but the intensity of modern warfare, incessant bombing and barrages and machine-gun fire drove them to eat more and more of the world’s most ancient euphoric plant. It had a deadly effect. ‘Water buffalo within earshot of combat zones were… were observed browsing opium poppies, showing signs of addiction and withdrawal’.

I was drawn to read the related end-notes, the source of the information. I found it to be even more curious than the passage that led me there.

Siegal, R.R. 2005: 128. Arguably more inexplicable is a recent case linking animals with opium poppies and crop circles. Tasmania grows the world’s largest crop of legal opiates for the pharmaceutical industry – supplying fifty per sent of the global total for the production of morphine and related opiates. In 2009, Tasmania’s attorney-general Lara Giddings said that, ‘We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going round in circles… Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high.’ (Associated Press. 2009). Rick Rockliff, the field operations manager for Tasmanian Alkaloids, added that sheep also would graze on poppy stubble and ‘they would follow each other around in large circles’. (Tedmanson 2009). The media fascination with crop circles and opium-snacking wallabies has a personal association also as it was my uncle, David Chorley, who, together with Doug Bower ‘invented’ the crop-circle phenomenon in southern England during the 1970s.

Plato (428 – 347 BC)

We should never forget the cost of idealism, ambition and greed. It leads to unacceptable atrocities and tragedy.

Untold Stories – Margret from Holocaust Memorial Day Trust on Vimeo.

These photos and video are from the Holocaust Memorial Day website:

Holocaust Memorial Day provides an opportunity for everyone to learn lessons from the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and subsequent genocides and apply them to the present day to create a safer, better future. On HMD we share the memory of the millions who have been murdered in the Holocaust and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur in order to challenge hatred and persecution in the UK today.

My hope is that people will become enlightened and that hatred and persecution throughout the world will cease to be.

No ‘one’ person can change the world, but everyone can contribute with their thoughts and actions. Those thoughts and actions cause a ripple effect, hopefully towards a better future.