HOW COULD WE EVER FORGET?

This is my grandfather, James Richard Brown,  who fought with the 2nd Royal Guernsey Light Infantry and the Royal Irish Fusiliers in World War One. He was invalided out of the army on May 6, 1919 after losing a lung. Today I am thinking of all the other brave soldiers who never had the chance to be
 fathers and grandfathers.
  Gold Bless them all.

 

 

 

 

1914-2014

 

Lest we Forget

 

TWITTER, FACEBOOK, BUZZ FEED - THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON JUST ONE MAN

 I switched on my local news  channel today to see Lytham Crematorium in Lancashire packed with strangers - all of them honouring  a man they never even knew. Harold Percival, who  died recently aged 99, had few remaining friends or family to attend his funeral. Until, that is,  the funeral director appealed for mourners to come forward. The story was soon picked up by Twitter, Facebook, Buzz Feed and finally by the national press - with amazing results. Hundreds of people from all over the country turned up to pay their respects on a cold wet and miserable day, giving the veteran the farewell he deserved. Here are just some of the headlines:

A Veteran Died With Nobody To Attend His Funeral — What Happened Next Was Incredibly Moving

RIP, Harold Jellicoe Percival. posted on November 11, 2013 at 6:25am EST

Tom Phillips Buzz Feed

 

Harold Jellicoe Percival, a veteran of Bomber Command in WWII, died last month aged 99. The death notice in his local paper said that there was nobody to attend his funeral.  

 

6:46 PM - 8 Nov 13

Twitter picked up the story, in the hope that somebody might be able to attend.

SimonNRicketts@SimonNRicketts     

I hope this newspaper listing means some service personnel attend this guy's funeral.

They did, of course. And the rest is now just history.