Remembering Today

[christine liava'a]

Terry, Once you said you were going to make a section of the site for this entire list. Lately there have been quite a few missed out on various days. If such a list existed, then missed ones could be looked up later. Please see if you can do it.

What was the name for the 13 May? Something like Danskin, from memory.

Everyone, another request. Please help to do this looking up. Anyone can start a post. The CWGC entry is fine.

I will be away from early to mid June, and won't be able to do it, so could others start practising?

[christine liava'a]

I think this is the one for the 13th May

Name: DANSKIN, DAVID

Initials: D

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment: 3rd Dragoon Guards (Prince of Wales' Own)

Unit Text: "B" Sqdn.

Age: 23

Date of Death: 13/05/1915

Service No: 5596

Additional information: Son of David and Elizabeth Gray Danskin, of 8, St. Leonard's Hill, Edinburgh.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 3

Cemetery: YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL

[Terry Denham]

Christine

We did discuss the merits of having all the 'Remembering' entries collected together but it is up to Chris if he wishes to do this. I am afraid I cannot do it - it is his site after all!

I have to say that I never envisaged such research interest in the daily name when I drew up the list and Chris agreed to incorporate the feature. Having said that, it is very pleasing to see such interest.

[christine liava'a]

Well Chris, would you be willing to add a section, either here or on the Long Long Trail page, incorporating all the research so far for the remembering Today items?

Christine

[Clive Maier]

Perhaps most Pals are satisfied with the original concept of Remembering Today, and don’t feel the need for lookups. That is my position anyway. Of course, if ‘one of mine’ came up and I had extra information to offer the forum, I would gladly put it forward. Needless to say, I am very happy for lookups to continue to be posted by those who wish to do them.

I don’t understand the feeling of ‘another one missed’ if a lookup has not been posted. It is the converse of what has happened. In being randomly selected, the person who is ‘remembered today’ has been picked out published, read and thought about by quite a few Pals. It is everyone else who died on that day that has been missed out.

As for a separate Remembering Today section, I would never oppose it if that’s what Pals want, but the logic defeats me. It is making a category out of what Terry has been at pains to randomise.

Some Pals may not be familiar with the original concept. This is how it was explained at the time by Terry Denham, whose idea it was.

The idea was to have the Forum’s equivalent of a casualty’s name being read out each evening at the Menin Gate. Also, the name was to be selected totally at random – just like a bullet finding its target on the Western Front!

The database of names has been compiled from the CWGC database to take the feature through to the end of 2004 and will obviously be extended in due course.

I have tried to reflect the profile of the Forum in the names appearing – mostly army but with a fair selection of navy and air force. Also it is mostly British but with a good selection of colonials and even a smattering of non-Commonwealth names to stress the international aspect of this Forum. Yes, there will be Belgian, French, American, German names too (and a few others).

All names were selected totally at random with nobody being chosen because of rank, awards, fame, notoriety or place/manner of death. The only manual intervention in the process was a limited amount to ensure fair coverage of all units, sailors, airmen, Kiwis, Aussies etc. Most British regiments will appear but you may have to wait some time for the smaller units to come up.

Please do not request that the names of relatives appear as that would spoil the random nature of the exercise. Most of the names will have nobody to remember them and I think that the relatives of a Pal will already be well remembered elsewhere. At least we can give a small number of men (and women) twenty-four hours of remembrance around the globe.

Please spare a minute to remember the featured casualty each day when you log on to the Forum.

[Terry Denham]

Clive

Thank you for re-posting my original piece. It will help understanding amongst newer Pals.

I do feel strongly that the random nature of the feature is the essence of the exercise and helps to bring home the universal nature of the carnage and the horror of it all. I have no idea of the stories behind each name - deliberately so to maintain my impartiality in the selection process.

Having said that, I am pleased that some Pals wish to find out more about the men. Some very interesting stories have emerged as a result and I admire the tenacity of Christine, RT and the others who have maintained this research almost every day since last December. Again I have no worries if the 'meatier' of these stories are retained by Chris as he has a similar section already running - containing random stories with some supplied by Pals etc. That is his decision.

Do not make a chore out of this research is my only request. The appearance of the 'Remembering Today' name is an act of remembrance after all.