We will remember them

The Memorial to The Missing, Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial, Ieper

Commemorated here is Corporal Frederick Henry Murphy of the Royal West Kent Regiment, killed in action at Passchendaele on 20 September 1917, aged 32. He left a mother, a widow, and three children under the age of 5.

A clerk in a shipping office in peace time, resident in a small terraced house in Tooting, London, my grandmother's first husband was typical of his time- a quiet man whose letters home show he missed his family, protected them from the horrors he was experiencing, was commended in writing by his commanding officer for his bravery and example of leadership, gave his life in a conflict which had little bearing upon his immediate circumstances, and was denied the privilege of burial as his remains have not yet been identified.

I stand in awe of him, and of the millions like him; and also of the wives and mothers and sisters and daughters who watched their menfolk march away, not knowing if they would ever return.