By Faye Campbell, Joe Chidlow, Holly Jones, Marvin Kigongo and Josiel Martin, Year 10
Next year, 2018, will mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. For the past three years we have been remembering this conflict in which the soldiers suffered such horrific experiences in the trenches, the likes of which had never been seen before. It was a traumatic event that left a scar on all the people of Britain, both military and civilians. In the First World War over 8.5 million soldiers died, including over 900,000 men from Britain and its empire.
At the west end of the Nave of Westminster Abbey is the grave of the Unknown Warrior, whose body was brought from France to be buried here on 11 November 1920. Nearly half the soldiers who fought and died in the First World War do not have a grave because their bodies have never been recovered. We have participated in the Lochnagar Project which aims to remember these people who sacrificed their lives in the First World War by creating a virtual cemetery. We were proud to be part of this project. We watched videos from the battlefields in France showing us where our individual soldiers fought. This gave us an insight into the events in the hours and minutes leading up to their death as they charged over the top on 1st July 1916 in the Battle of the Somme. They should never be forgotten and as Laurence Binyon’s poem says “we will remember them”.
