Pentland Road is the blog where my stories, related to local history in the Isle of Lewis, will be posted.
My involvement with the First World War history of Lewis stems from a feeling that I, coming from one of the European countries occupied by Nazi Germany between 1940 and '45, owe a debt of gratitude towards British (and other) forces who were instrumental in lifting the yoke of national-socialism. I would like to think that digitising this aspect of Lewis history will serve to repay a minute portion of that debt.
I have no personal connection to the island, nor to any of the men whose story is told in these posts. Maybe this makes it easier for me to work through this history, as I am not emotionally involved. I can however empathise with the pain, felt by relatives and friends, who suffered bereavements in the Great War. But it is not possible to imagine what the aftermath of the Iolaire Disaster must have felt like, when more than 200 were lost at a stroke in the early hours of New Year's Day 1919.
My work, as displayed in the Pentland Road blog and elsewhere in my Internet output, is dedicated to the memory of the 1,300 men from the Isle of Lewis lost in the Great War of 1914-1919.
You are doing wonderful work in ensuring that the sacrifice of these men is recorded and given due recognition.
ReplyDeleteIf it were not for the bravery of the many men and women who resisted the Nazis from within their occupied countries the war might never have been won.
We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to these largely unknown and unrecognised individuals too.