It was the First World War that embedded remembrance into the national psych. Major Brian Rogers will be joining us at Sunninghill Library on Thursday 6 November to talk about local stories of where our village soldiers fought and died, and were subsequently commemorated.
Remembrance
Each November people are called upon to ‘remember’. As we approach that time of year, 80 years after the end of World War II and more than a century from World War I, it is apt that we should look at how this all began and has endured.
This call has consistently roused a sizeable proportion of the population to action, even now, over a century after it was first heard.
It was the First World War that embedded remembrance into the national psyche as a concept, as a duty and sentiment.
The lexicon of the annual commemoration is so familiar, but how did remembrance take hold and manifest itself in Britain, and how did it compare with that of other nations?
Poppies, the Unknown Warrior, the Cenotaph, the War Graves Commission, the Last Post, Remembrance Sunday vs Remembrance Day, the list goes on.
The talk will canter though these topics and look at some local stories of where our village soldiers fought, died, and were subsequently commemorated.
Major Brian Rogers
Major Brian Rogers is a resident of Sunninghill and a semi-retired soldier of 39 years’ service.
Having resigned his commission on reaching the upper age limit of 55, he continues to serve in his old role at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, albeit as a desk bound reservist.
An accredited battlefield guide with the Guild of Battlefield Guides, Brian is also the Official Historian of the Household Cavalry, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission volunteer, and an active member of both the Western Front Association, and the British Commission for Military History.
In his spare time during his last years of service he also completed a Master of Arts degree in the History of Great Britain and the First World War from the University of Wolverhampton.