Now, today is Remembrance Day, and so it seems fitting to focus on this informative and moving series exploring the history of the Unknown Soldier, which is currently being broadcast on Radio 4.
Today's episode is number three of five, and I have found the first two well worth the listen
"Drawn from official documents of the time, newspaper reports and writings of those involved, this is the story of how, on Armistice Day 1920, 100 years ago, an unknown warrior, was buried among the kings in Westminster Abbey, and became a symbol of a nation’s grief and gratitude.
Britain in 1920 was extremely unsettled - spiritually, emotionally and politically. Many were still in mourning for those lost in the Great War. Across the fields of France and Flanders, bodies were still being exhumed and taken to the new war cemeteries, many of them never to be identified.
Many families were never to know where their loved ones were buried. And for those that did, the government had already decided that no bodies were to be returned to their families and that, for the time being, travel to the graves in the fields of France and Flanders was not permitted.
One wise war padre, who felt acutely the sorrow of the bereaved, suggested that one unknown soldier could be brought home. One body to stand for the many.
Readers: Janet Ellis and David Haig
Sound by Lucinda Mason-Brown
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Wright
Written, compiled and produced by Caroline Raphael
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4"
Picture; Unknown Warrior's Grave, from an original watercolour by J. Linsay, published by Valentine and Sons Ltd, circa 1930, from the collection of David Harrop, and Unknown Warrior's Grave, from the set, Westminster Abbey, series 2, Tuck & Sons, 1935, courtesy of Tuck DB Postcards, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/items/111064
* An Unknown Warrior, Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000p7bc
**Newport Road, the Unknown Warrior’s Grave in Westminster Abbey and a picture postcard sent in the April of 1952, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2014/10/newport-road-unknown-warriors-grave-in.html
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