Very majestic and stirring, the “Last Post.”
It’s still played to this day, every evening, at the British military cemetarys in Northern Europe, especially the ones from World War One. There was a “time out,” for lack of a better term, during the German occupation from 1940 to 1944, but as soon as the last German soldier was out of the area the custom began again and has continued to this day.
As far as British music from the Great War is concerned, none moves me more than “I vow to thee my country.” Lovely tune, sublime lyrics. Perfectly captures the zeitgeist of 100 years ago.
Very touching Wanswheel …I thank you sincerely for finding and posting this.
Hate when preached has a way of turning reasonable people into morons and vent their spleen - not understanding what they are asking for.
My apologies for not explaining “The Last Post”.
I’ve attended ceremonies on Remembrance Day and on ANZAC Day (25 April, the date of the Gallipoli landing, which is probably more important in Australia and NZ, when veterans march to the various memorials) more times than I could count.
To get back to the rail content earlier in the thread, I thought I might talk a little about 2419 D. The D stands for Dining car, although it is listed as a WR (Wagon Restaurant). It had a varnished teak body, as seen in the photo with Hitler. It was fairly new, having been built by Compagnie Generale de Construction (a Wagons Lits subsidiary) in St Denis (a Paris suburb) in 1914, part of a batch of 22, 2403 to 2424. George Behrend’s list says it was destroyed at Hitler’s instructions in 1944. However, there were two other batches totalling 15 cars, 2425 to 2439 built at the same time to the same design.
In 1945, 2439 was renumbered 2419 and replaced the original on display at Compiegne. In fact, the original 2419 had been returned to service in 1919 as a 48 seat dining car, and only in 1921 was it returned to its wartime condition and put on display. So the interior of 2439 now is no more original than that used by Hitler in 1940…
M636C
