Headstones identical to the one I have photographed above can be seen in their thousands in First World War military graveyards across Europe. When they all display the same six words at the top and the same 3 at the bottom, it can become difficult for us to remember that each and every single one stands for a completely different young soldier who chose to lay down their life solely at the service of us who live on today.

 

On one weekend in late September, when the piles of dry, yellow leaves began to be peppered with fallen conkers, I was on a trip to the WWI battlefields on the Western Front; I visited Ypres, the Thiepval Memorial and Tyne Cot cemetery among others. During this trip, I found myself to soften when reading the manifold- and sometimes deeply personal- epitaphs written on each of the stones; but it was this one photographed which seemed to touch me in a place that I never before thought could feel anything.

 

This stone stands to attention in Essex Farm Cemetery, tucked away deep in the Belgian Flanders region and it was the first one I ever came across to have the following inscription:

 

‘A soldier of the Great War

Known Unto God’.

 

When I knew of only one of these tombstones, I felt that the message engraved was overwhelmingly potent: a young person has given away the life that lies ahead of them for others, but only God will ever know who that person was. When considered in this manner, this sentiment seemed to initially strike a particular chord with me but as I came to look over the graves I visited in the following days and saw the sublime displays of stones announcing the same message, my sensitivity seemed to slowly harden again, as it appeared that I was simply reading the same epitaph over and over again, as if the unkown soldiers mentioned were all much the same.

 

It was only in reflection when back home that my commiseration and tragic respect for these unknown heroes truly took flight. The thousands of stones displaying this message are in fact not all the same: they are all in commemoration of a different hero than all the last. Heroes who will never be named.

 

And so as we approach the season of remembrance, I appreciate like never before how important it is that we honour the youthful souls who handed over their bright futures to people whom they would never meet. I believe we should now commemorate them all- both those named and unnamed- with the highest decorum, lest we ever forget their ultimate sacrifice.