Glenn Michael Morley

A Dull Morning - October 3rd 1916 Glenn Michael Morley

... Colincamps France - May 2001 - I am standing alone in Euston Road Cemetery before the white chiseled gravestone of a fallen WWI Canadian soldier - Gunner A. Anderson MM - killed October 3rd 1916 - the surrounding wind swept farm land is eerily silent - peace has once again settled on the blood-soaked fields of the Somme region - I stare at the gravestone - the soldier - the person who lies buried beneath it is unknown to me - before leaving I place a Canadian Nickel on the upper curved edge of the grave - the only distinctive Canadian token I have to signify to others that this soldier has not been forgotten by Canada - I salute and walk away - tears welling up in my eyes ... ... Toronto Canada - December 2009 - I am sitting at my desk - tired of reading history books written by others - upset with myself for not having put my Major degree in History to better use - I recall the WWI soldier who lies buried in France but little else - his name - the cemetery - all had since been forgotten - what I did recall for certain was that his grave was significant because it was the lone Canadian grave in the cemetery - I knew some history of WWI but was no military expert - the research challenge: who was that soldier ...