‘Struggling to find words’ for eulogy to those lost at war
IN MAY this year Ian Nickson made a charity cycle trip to Belgium with his five friends to raise money for motor neurone disease.
The disease has strong links to the military, with research showing armed forces personnel have a 50 per cent increased risk of developing the condition. Ian went knowing the history of his late great grandfather, James William Mitchell, who fought in the First World War, and wanted to locate where he was put to rest.
James died along with 400,000 others at the battle of Passchendaele that was fought between July and November 1917. Ian said: “The more we cycled round the battle fields, the more I began to realise it wasn’t about us. As we made our way through hundreds of cemeteries and head stones, I was unbelievably moved and as time passed myself and the group almost became immune to the vast amount of death we were surrounded by.”
Ian and the group researched to find where his late great grandfather was buried so they could pay tribute to him. When the group located the headstone they were so overwhelmed that they came back the next day and did a memorial service which they named “In honour of the fallen of WWI. Specifically James William Mitchell.”
Ian wrote a eulogy that read: “Following what my pals and I have witnessed over the last three days, I am shamefully struggling to find words. We have seen sculptured marble erect in your memory, we have seen engraved stone bearing records of your deeds. We have heard first hand accounts of the horror and misery this stain on humankind brought upon you and your friends, your family and millions like you. More, we have seen stretching far beyond the horizon, endless headstones and crosses marking good men and true heroes who carried for us a torch of hope and who, on these fields, were treated with less worth than harvest of wheat, cut down and ploughed back into earth. You and your pals did this, not because you hated those in front of you but because you loved those next to and behind you.”
This eulogy was followed by a poem, laying of a wreath and the lord’s prayer, followed by a minute’s silence and the last post.
Ian’s mother, Margaret Nickson, has never met or even seen a photograph of her grandfather. She said: “I have connected with my grandfather through the history and I am moved by my son’s feelings. My mother never spoke about her father and I’ve grown up wanting to know more.”
James William Mitchell was killed in battle in 1917 leaving his wife and two daughters. Margaret added: “My grandson also went on a school trip to the war graves in Belgium. The other students didn’t have names of any past relatives so they all helped him find my grandfather and lay a wreath on his grave. I am completely moved by my son and grandson’s feelings.”
Margret plans to hold a memorial service in the future at the Todmorden War Memorial where James’ name is engraved. She says: “I will be spending Remembrance Day holding onto thoughts of my grandfather.”
A Remembrance parade will form in Todmorden on Stansfield Road at 10.30am on Sunday, November 10, which will proceed to the Remembrance Gardens for a wreath laying and service at 11am.