Very moving for me to attend services honoring veterans on both Saturday and Sunday. There are some speakers that I would like to tell you about but before I do that I want to ask you, did any of you see on the news about the 99 year old Royal Air Force veteran who just died? Harold Jellicoe "Coe" Percival never married and had no children, so someone put this out on Facebook, asking for folks to attend his memorial service. One hundred people filled up the building at his funeral and hundreds of others stood silently outside in his honour. (There, I spelled it the English way, since this was in England.) God bless them! It looked as if it was raining and I felt profoundly moved by them doing this.
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One of the songs that they sang at the service was "Jerusalem", which is a very well known song in England, but one that Americans might not know. It is a poem by William Blake set to stirring music and is certainly one of the favorites of my husband and my in-laws and if you are reading this from England, I am sure it is one of yours too! I found this on You-tube with the lyrics...
There was a lot on the news over here about Harold, both national and local (as I'm in the area I saw both). It was so wonderful and heartwarming that people took time out of their day for a complete stranger - I felt quite moved. Jerusalem is my all-time favourite hymn - never better than when sung at the Last Night of the Proms. x
ReplyDeleteYes, I heard the story about the old vet's funeral and was moved by it also. "Jerusalem" is one of my fave hymns too, although I didn't learn it until I was an adult. It was too "Church of England" for the church I attended as a child, LOL.
ReplyDeleteI heard that story on NPR this morning ... very moving indeed. (It would have been wonderful to have paid him some of that attention while he was still alive.)
ReplyDelete"Jerusalem" is a very thought-provoking lyric. Rather militant - I wonder how the mill-owners felt about it in their day?
Thanks for posting this, Kay. I have to confess I sometimes confused "Jerusalem" with "Jerusalem the Golden" in my mind (being an American and not brought up to sing either). :) But now I'll remember the difference!
While i did not hear about this, i'm not surprised. There are still good people out there, who know how to honour a hero.
ReplyDeleteWhat i did hear, just now, is that Ryan Ferguson won't be retried -- i'm not sure if you've caught that story yet, and i know you want to know.
I did see that on the news today and it made me well up. It was so moving and special. Glad you saw it too!!!
ReplyDeleteI had not heard of him, but was touched that his memory was honored by the people who came.
ReplyDeleteI also had never heard that song and it was beautiful. The video of England was gorgeous. We visited there many years ago, and it's a fascinating place to visit. Thank you for posting the video and the story of the veteran.
(We recently watched the old Masterpiece show, North and South, which dealt with the mills and also How Green Was My Valley, dealing with the mines. So sad the way those people lived.
I'd not heard about this veteran's funeral, either; Germany's news are full of only two things these days: Hayian, the terrible hurricane that has already taken so many lives, and the "big coalition" dealings that have been going on since our last general election in September, seemingly becoming more and more difficult by the day.
ReplyDeleteJerusalem is also a traditional part of the Last Night of the Proms (promenade concerts not your sort of proms) - very British. One cannot help but be moved by the song and the music whatever the circumstances. I loved the idea of Facebook bringing folk out to the funeral of an RAF veteran.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm honoured that used the British spelling!
In recent days whenever a lonely soldier dies the British Legion and others will attempt to attend the funeral.
ReplyDeleteIt was good to see the turnout for the funeral, and quite right that he was honoured in this way.
ReplyDeleteI've been watching Foyle's War nightly and know how important it is to recognize the sacrifices and bravery of the men who fought in all our wars. I don't recall hearing Jerusalem before, but it is very beautiful.
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