Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, France.
Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper. (Isaiah 29:4)
Time to Remember
At the Highland Light Infantry Club.
I have looked upon this picture a hundred times or more and in every instance I look into their faces on this day they stood together. Four elder veterans, medals in place, poppies on their lapels and a wreath in hand. Today though is different as I start my search for another look into this past. On the right hand side, a sign identifies the location as the Highland Light Infantry Club, (Edinburgh, Scotland), a club in existence from 1929 to 1962.
Amongst our four veterans I see our friend in the back and on the left includes before his campaign medals of the Great War, an award for gallantry, the Distinguished Conduct Medal. In front of him, a fellow without medals, but perhaps wearing a pin related to his Great War pinned upon his pocket. On the far right a man with service prior to the Great War, perhaps in India and maybe at the end of that row a long service medal. Our man in front and in the center holds the wreath, his responsibility this day. They are ready for the journey they have no doubt made several times, to a place of remembrance central to their lives, their brothers in arms, their community, their friends, their family.
Here where they stand they may recall those days of vivid, past memory; some they will speak of, some they will speak of only to their own, and yet others they have let go of – keeping them only to themselves. They have stood before they will stand again, testament to their generation, the ones left to grow old, all the while recalling memories like whispered echoes upon them.
Time to remember.
Tags: Great War, Highland Light Infantry Club, Poppies, Poppy Wreaths, Remembrance, Terlincthun British Cemetery
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on Saturday, November 3rd, 2012 at 9:29 am and is filed under Our Thoughts.
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About The Author
Paul has worked with the Paradigm Motion Picture Company since 2009 as producer, historian and research specialist. Paul first met Casey and Ian WIlliams of Paradigm in April 2007 at Ieper (Ypres), Belgium when ceremonies were being held for the re-dedication of the Vimy Memorial, France.
Paul's sensitivity to film was developed at an early age seeing his first films at RCAF Zweibrucken, Germany and Sardinia. Paul returned to Canada in 1967 and was captivated by David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge on the River Kwai". Over time Paul became increasingly interested in storytelling, content development, character, direction, cinematography, narration and soundtracks.
At the University of Victoria, Paul studied and compared Japanese and Australian film and became interested in Australian film maker Peter Weir and his film "Gallipoli" (1981). Paul was inspired when he learned Weir visited the beaches, ridges and ravines of the peninsula. "Gallipoli", the film, led Paul on many journeys to sites of conflict in England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Malta, Hawaii, Gallipoli, North Macedonia and Salonika.
When Paul first watched documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, "The Civil War", Paul understood how his own experience and insight could be effective and perhaps influential in film-making. Combining his knowledge of Museums and Archives, exhibitions and idea strategies with his film interests was a natural progression.
Paul thinks like a film-maker. His passion for history and storytelling brings to Paradigm an eye (and ear) to the keen and sensitive interests of; content development, the understanding of successful and relational use of collections, imagery and voice. Like Paul's favorite actor, Peter O'Toole, Paul believes in the adage “To deepen not broaden.”
While on this path Paul always remembers his grandmother whose father did not return from the Great War and how his loss shaped her life and how her experience continues to guide him.
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