Private Giles Victor Rowles 14th Battalion 1402 AIF
Died of wounds at the Battle of Lone Pine, Gallipoli, age 19 years.
Buried at sea August 10 1915, 2 miles off Mudros Harbour, Lemnos.
Born in Hollinfare, Cheshire, England 1896, son of Mary Ann Williamson Rowles and Charles Rowles. Remembered by his step-siblings on his parents’ gravestone in Hollinfare cemetery.
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Also worth remembering, in Britain, 16-year-olds are still recruited into the armed forces. War veterans call for a re-think on recruitment of sixteen-year-olds
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#NoGloryInWar @WarNoGlory
Tish Farrell 
A fine tribute Tish on a special day. I didn’t realise we were still recruiting 16-year-olds – unforgivable. As an antidote to the glossy armed forces recruitment ads, any budding soldiers should watch the film ’71.
In a similar vein, I have put my grandfather’s medals on blip today:
https://www.polaroidblipfoto.com/entry/2111046016898698527
Just been over to look. That’s a great photo, Robin.
A great way to remember those who have lost lives in war.
I, the pacifist, suggest that military commanders, politicians, and the warlords who benefit from war should have their sons and daughters drafted and in the front line in the battlegrounds, just maybe they may reconsider war.
I agree, Noel. Something is needed to make these people focus on the wider reality and understand the consequences of their actions.
As It seems nobody learns the lesson……!
Moving remembrance!
No, we do not seem to learn, but then we are all the time subjected to scare-mongering tactics by those in power. It’s hard not to be sucked into the conflict purportedly fought in our names – to keep us safe etc etc.
How sad that the one secular holiday we share reminds of the the losses of war. Beautiful piece. Thank you.
Sadder still, that some of us seem to want to be gearing up for the next conflict as if this is a normal course of events, instead of finding political solutions.
Gallipoli and Anzac Cove were incredibly moving places to visit Tish.
It was such a waste. I recently read that there were British fourteen-year-olds fighting and dying there.
16 year olds in those days were men .
A different era.
That’s indeed true, but it isn’t so true for today. Most kids in the UK are very sheltered by comparison to kids a hundred years ago. They are being sold life in the armed forces as if it’s a good Friday night out. And parents are being persuaded to give consent on the basis that the army will be their kids’ ‘family’.
It’s not really the done thing to publish anti-war posts on this day, so well done for a thoughtful post Tish. You can’t vote until you are 18 but you can sign your life away and to kill others? Something seriously flawed there.
I think the problem with criticising continued wars and invasions and offensives (insert other weasel words) is that people see it as disrespecting the dead and their families. It’s not. It’s a desire to end these greedy political power-grabbing wars, and to remember everyone who dies in wars. The civilians, the military caught in very unfriendly fire, the totally shattered lives of civilians and military with PTSD and physical injuries.
As your second link suggests, remembrance/armistice day isn’t an excuse to go bomb the shit out of somewhere else. You can tell, I’ve already had this discussion elsewhere today 😀
The being disrespectful argument is indeed a big problem, Kate. It locks us into the status quo. But when it comes to WW1, I cannot see any good reason why it was fought. At the same time I would never deny the bravery and astonishing endurance of the millions of men who fought and died, and the courage of the women who tried to patch up the survivors. Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth says it all, and she was there, did the patching up under horrendous conditions, and lost those she most loved. And surely, too, we should respect people in life, and not send them to die on the basis of lies and deceit that have been dressed up as just causes.It’s the pointless waste that I find hard to accept.
Giles Victor looks to be no more than a child. How tragic and what a great loss to his family.
He was indeed a loss. Nor is there much record of his very brief life, like so many others of his age and younger who enlisted giving false ages.
So utterly sad and heart-rending.
Watched the film ‘Master & Commander’ tonight, set in 1805, war between England and France at seas, with some children as officers-in-training; explained to my kids too that the old guy in our village in Germany who fought for the Germans in WWII wasn’t really a Nazi, just made to go to work for them so to speak, around age 16. Good post, gets right to the point.
Funnily enough I was thinking of Master and Commander as did the post, and the fact that midshipmen signed on at the age of twelve or so. My one-time father-in-law was also a ‘boy soldier’, a recognised position, and joined the army at fourteen.Entirely his own career choice. But the way the forces are sold to kids and parents in the UK now is just extraordinarily crass.
I took down these lyrics today from the Yes song, Yours is No Disgrace, thinking of your post: ‘Death defying, mutilated armies scatter the earth / crawling out of dirty holes their morals, their morals disappear.’ Would go on here but you’re lucky, my battery is about dead. Bye for now Tish, – Bill
Cheers, Bill. I used to love Yes, so thanks for the timely memory jog and words to go with it.
They hit the spot for me still when they come up on the shuffle. Thought it timely alright.
War, what is it good for? And a 16-y-o is still a child! *horrified*
So thoughtful of you to remember this young man.
I suppose he’s my archetype for all young men who bravely enlist to fight in conflicts they believe are justified. It makes me so sad though.