RIFLEMAN JOHN CHARLES THOMAS KILLICK
LONDON REGIMENT, PRINCE OF WALES OWN CIVIL SERVICE RIFLES
2ND OCTOBER 1918 AGE 20
BURIED: LA KREULE MILITARY CEMETERY, HAZEBROUCK, FRANCE
Rifleman John Killick died of wounds in a Casualty Station, his father also John Killick, signed for his inscription. The first two lines come from 'Hail and Farewell' by the popular poet John Oxenham.
They died that we might live,-
Hail!-and Farewell!
-All honour give
To those who, nobly striving, nobly fell,
That we might live!
That we might live they died,-
Hail!-and Farewell!
-Their courage tried,
By every mean device of treacherous hate,
Like Kings they died.
Eternal honour give,-
Hail!- and Farewell!-
-To those who died,
In that full splendour of heroic pride,
That we might live!
The second two lines of the inscription are Mr Killick's own words and reflect a popular sentiment of the time: that those who lived on had an obligation to the dead to look after the world and make it a better place, one where such a terrible event would never happen again, a world that would be worthy of the dead.
It is a relevant point today, remembrance itself is not enough. If the dead did leave the future in trust to us, that should be the subtext of 'all remembrance mantras - 'Lest we forget' the responsibility they hoped we would assume.