1 November 2021

Remembrance, continued


 The same old moon.

Woman: And to think that it's the same dear old moon that's shining down on him!
Man: This blinkin' moon will be the death of us.

This comic draws together two aspects of the life of the soldier. The first and most obvious is the disconnect that the soldiers could feel growing between themselves and those at home. Farley Mowat would write of the second world war how the men both desperately awaited and dreaded the mail call. Hearing from home helped connect them with a life not tainted by the war, but reading of the mundane things was also an isolating experience for many. The simple things became lost to them.
The other thread of this comic is the night work of many soldiers. Much of repair work- resetting barbed wire that had been shot away, filling and stacking sandbags along the parapets of the trenches- was done under the cover of darkness. It was deadly, dangerous work, as both sides scanned the battlefield for movement and listened for the faint traces of sound indicating work parties. Being caught out was almost certain death.

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