Our Views is where you can find original photos of places when we’ve been struck by their links to history, to politics and to events. Our photos feature many places in Europe as well as New York, Iceland and Zimbabwe. We will refresh the selection of photos from time to time, of course.
Our Views also links with our family history. The photo of the grave of a cousin who fell as a soldier in the Salerno landings in Italy in September 1943 is here as is the grave of the great uncle who fell in the First World War in September 1916. We found his grave in one of the cemeteries looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission near Albert in France. The First World War cemeteries are well looked after and they communicate the sense of loss on a tragic, almost unimaginable scale.
Many families were touched in some way by the major Wars of the 20th century which led to the steps that established the European Union as both a successful peace project and a force for political freedom and rights, so important across Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The European Union will continue to have a vital role in the world, dominated as it is by the US, China and Russia.