The Battlefield

This blog is in memory of Edward James Cronin who died at just 19 in France, and all those
who died in the act of war.

51696, 2nd Bn. Wellington Regiment, N.Z.E.F. 
who died on 03rd April 1918 Age 19 
of 56 Malmesbury Terrace, Canning Town, London, England.
​
Remembered with Honour

The land on which the British cemeteries and official memorials are situated was given by the French government for those soldiers buried or named there to remain in perpetuity. My great great uncle, Edward James Cronin is one of them, he is
buried at the Sucrerie Military Cemetery.

A Soldier’s Cemetery by John William Streets
​Behind that long and lonely trenched line
To which men come and go, where brave men die,
There is a yet unmarked and unknown shrine,
A broken plot, a soldier’s cemetery.

There lie the flower of youth, the men who scorn’d
To live (so died) when languished Liberty:
Across their graves flowerless and unadorned
Still scream the shells of each artillery.

When war shall cease this lonely unknown spot
Of many a pilgrimage will be the end,
And flowers will shine in this now barren plot
And fame upon it through the years descend:
But many a heart upon each simple cross
Will hang the grief, the memory of its loss.