World War One – Deshocks

Armistice Day: a personal reflection

Personal, Politics

Armistice Day: a personal reflection

A hundred years is a blip in the history of humanity, but for most people, the end of World War One feels like a remote historical event. The decade of centenaries in some ways makes it feel like ancient history - a pity, because we make the mistake of thinking history does not repeat, and progress [...]

2018-12-01T21:55:04+00:00 December 1st, 2018|Categories: Personal, Politics|Tags: Brexit, Family, history, World War One|

A trip through time and memory to the Somme

Opinion

A trip through time and memory to the Somme

For years my Dad and I have been promising ourselves we’d go to see where my grandfather, Leo, fought at the Somme. Having enlisted to the East Kents in Fermoy in 1914, Leo Lyons O’Shaughnessy somehow survived four years on the Western Front. Although he rarely spoke about it after his return, and died in the [...]

2018-12-01T09:54:18+00:00 May 6th, 2016|Categories: Opinion|Tags: Albert, chemins d'histoires, Evening Echo, family history, France, genealogy, grandfather, history, Marais, Olivier Dirson, paris, Pont Neuf, sightseeing, the Somme, trenches, Vedettes du Pont Neuf, World War One|