A similar exercise was then carried out relating to those who lost their lives in the Second World War. In this instance it was possible in some cases to add detail by speaking to those who were contemporaries of those who died in the war and had remained in the locality.
It may be asked by some as to why this work was carried out.
Even as recently
as the Second World War, and somewhat beyond, the Parish of Urswick
was the home of rural communities made up of families, a high
percentage of whom had a continuity of living in the locality for
several generations. The young men who died in the wars were
part of those communities and their loss to their families was also
a loss felt by their entire community. Those days have now
gone and the communities which sustained those losses have been
broken and lost. It is fitting therefore that those who
learned about the young men who gave their lives, as a consequence
of growing up within, but during the dying years of those same
communities, should contribute to their memory.
This empathetic awareness of shared culture and shared values
will shortly die too, and from thence be beyond resurrection.
The outcome of this research may be downloaded as pdf documents by clicking on the titles below: