Things To Be Thankful For: My grandfathers and father- in -law who fought with the Allies

Thursday 19 January 2012

My grandfathers and father- in -law who fought with the Allies

Today I've posted some photographs of my relatives who fought for freedom during the two World Wars. The first two are of my grandfather Moorhead who fought in both of them. In the first photograph it looks like he was a corporal in WW1 and a relatively old man in WW2. He was about 45 during WW2- I couldn't believe that such a realatively old man would be fighting on the front line. In WW1 he went off with four of his brothers and were known in Newry as 'the patrotic family'.

My grandfather Kenny fought in the Boer War in the medical division as well as WW1. In the first photograph he appears to be wearing a Russian uniform while he was a POW held by the Germans. Below are also his WW1 medals and dog tag. One story I heard about him was that he escaped several times from the Germans but was recaptured.

My Father- in -Law John Jackson was a young Army Captain in WW2. He served in Burma and the Far East. I'm really proud of them all and thankful what they did for those who would come after them.

John Moorhead as a young corporal in WW1

John Moorhead as a private in WW2

William Kenny WW1 POW

WW1 Medals and dog tag

Capt John G. Jackson

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Gracias

In his book entitled “Gracias,” Henri Nouwen talks about his experience in Peru and Bolivia, he writes: "The title of this (book) summarizes what I found, learned, and heard. The word that I kept hearing, wherever I went, was: Gracias! It sounded like the refrain from a long ballad of events. Gracias a usted, gracias a Dios, muchas gracias––thank you, thanks be to God, many thanks! I saw thousands of poor and hungry children, I met many young men and women without money, a job, or a decent place to live. I spent long hours with sick, elderly people, and I witnessed more misery and pain than ever before in my life. But, in the midst of it all, that word lifted me again and again to a new realm of seeing and hearing: 'Gracias! Thanks!”

"In many of the families I visited nothing was certain, nothing predictable, nothing totally safe. Maybe there would be food tomorrow, maybe there would be work tomorrow, maybe there would be peace tomorrow. Maybe, maybe not. But whatever is given––money, food, work, a handshake, a smile, a good word, or an embrace––is a reason to rejoice and say gracias. What I claim as a right, my friends in Bolivia and Peru received as a gift; what is obvious to me was a joyful surprise to them; what I take for granted, they celebrate in thanksgiving; what for me goes by unnoticed became for them a new occasion to say thanks.”

"And slowly I learned. I learned what I must have forgotten somewhere in my busy, well-planned, and very "useful" life. I learned that everything that is, is freely given by the God of love. All is grace. Light and water, shelter and food, work and free time, children, parents and grandparents, birth and death––it is all given to us. Why? So that we can say gracias, thanks: thanks to God, thanks to each other, thanks to all and everyone.”