In August 2014, the world will mark the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. There cannot be many people today whose family were not in some way touched by World War One. Our Operations Director – Alan Clark – and his family are testament to this. Even with the passage of a century, it’s a war many of us are very familiar with.
We see memorials in every village, town and city in our country and we are all familiar with the national acts of remembrance held every November.
Whilst images of the fighting in the mud and trenches of the Western Front remain vivid and powerful, the Great War was also fought on many other fronts which may not be that familiar to us. It was fought across the continents, at sea and in the air. It was fought by servicemen from Asia, North America, the Caribbean, Australasia and Africa. It was also a war that gave rise to technological innovation and scientific discovery.
Those involved in the Great War suffered hardship and made sacrifices beyond our modern day comprehension. As the Centenary of the 1914–18 war approaches, we should ensure we do everything we can so as not to forget. If we want to understand today, we need to know and remember what happened yesterday.
In April of this year our Operations Director – Alan Clark and two of his friends and military colleagues – Peter Grant and James Quin, fulfilled a long held ambition to visit the World War I battlefields and memorials of northern France and Belgium. Alan served 27 years in the Royal Air Force and was involved during the conflicts in the Falklands, Iraq and the Gulf. His great uncle – George Henry Cook - was killed in Ypres during the Great War and Alan wanted to travel to the battlefields to visit his great uncle’s war grave and pay his respects.
During his trip, Alan also laid wreaths on behalf of Ferno UK and our sister companies in Canada, Australia and the USA in honour and remembrance of everyone from these countries who died during the Great War.
The attached video is a portrayal of Alan’s visit to the WW1 battlefields. We hope you will watch the video and find it an interesting, sobering and moving experience.
“Lest we forget”
