Dragon Investigations

well firstly let me apologise for not starting this sooner...all will become clear.

Some of you will know about the project that I'm involved in, but for those that don't, I'm working on behalf of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Fromelles in Northern France. The purpose being, to exhume the remains of up to 400 victims both British and Australian that fought and lost their lives in July 1916. They were killed in action and buried in a series of graves in a wooded area called Pheasant Wood.

Id like to share my experience with members and guests of e-Legal Gathering. There are lots that I'm unable to talk about due to confidentiality clauses in my contract, so you will have to bear with me on that.

I arrived in France on Thursday 7th May and fortunately had a long weekend off to get settled.

It didn't take me long to unpack my life for the next 6 months into the tiny studio I had been provided with. All very well and good you may say. Well it seemed rural, very French, rustic and peaceful at 9pm at night, that was until I heard a tapping on my window at 0530hrs. I was in the middle of a farmyard with a pea**** on my windowsill waiting for breakfast!

Then the donkeys started and the ****erels joined in. Talk about the dawn chorus...now I know the true meaning of that old saying.

Well being an animal lover, I was prepared to put up with the 5am call... but no internet, no way could I be cut off from the outside world.

It really made me think about how much we rely on the old PC. Thank god I brought my car over with me at least I could go to a local internet cafe, if there was one!

So for the next few days I went out walking to learn about the area and the history behind the real reason for my visit.

As you walk around these small villages and towns the enormity of the loss during WW1 becomes so apparent. There are war grave cemeteries everywhere you walk. Rows and rows of immaculately kept headstones with perfect lawned areas and flower shrubs.

I visited many of them over that first weekend. In each there is a visitors register, kept in a small safe like recess in the wall.

The first one I went into, I sat for a while and became quite emotional. Why was this so, i didn't know any names on the headstones.I didn't have an old relative who had lost his life during the war. Apparently, after speaking to others on the project a little later, it transpires that we have all gone through that same emotional time. Whether it was the enormity of the project we are about to undertake, or the fact that I was a little embarrassed to learn, that i knew very little history about these brave men who gave their lives for our future freedom. Either way it was a very moving experience for me. One I'm sure I will refer to over many years to come.

so, weekend off and its time for work. We are now two weeks into the project and I'm loving every minute of it.

Episode 2 to follow.

I need at least a week to catch up on all the new posts and threads that iv missed without the internet!