A 12-page supplement featuring the names of 3,000 of its patch’s war dead has been produced by a Scottish weekly.
The Falkirk Herald released the roll of honour ahead of Remembrance Sunday after featuring a story every week since August relating to the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War.
The project saw reporter Scott McAngus join volunteers in trying to find details about the fallen including their name, service number, rank, regiment, how they died, the date they died, where they served and what Commonwealth memorial their name is on.
Much of the detail was taken from the Herald’s archives from the time, and saw Scott and his helpers put in extra hours to complete the supplement in time for deadline.
Even then it was a tight-run thing after editor Colin Hume realised at 2pm on Wednesday, three hours before deadline, the four pages initially set aside for it wouldn’t be enough.
Said Scott: “The time consuming part was putting it all together in the same house style and trying to ensure there were no mistakes. It was painstaking work.
“A few colleagues helped me do some of the areas and a couple of work experience youngsters, who were very good, helped too.
“It probably took about two weeks of intense work, including weekends, to put it all together in the end, some of the work done in the office but most of it at home.
“I was up until 2am on Monday and Tuesday evenings finishing off some areas as the formats of the text and order of details were all different.
“I am a bit disappointed I couldn’t manage to get every single detail of all these brave men in there, but I’m aiming to do that for next year.”
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Remembrance Day commemorations are understandable, but why is the media highlighting war so much today?
You see it on television, the radio, the right wing national press, and all the journalists follow the party line like so many dummies.
Is the media readying us for another war, perhaps with Iran over nuclear energy or Russia over Ukraine?
Methinks something is going on that journalists don’t want to ask questions about.
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Dear Jupiter,
There’s a big anniversary of the start of the first world war this year, which means much higher profile remembrance this year – and I think the press is reflecting that.
I’m not certain it is highlighting war, more the terrible human cost of it.
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Darn those pesky HTFP commenters!
Without them my dastardly scheme to encourage another global war by remembering the loss, waste and sacrifice of previous conflicts would have succeeded.
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My JP local weekly could not be bothered to send a snapper out on Remembrance Sunday. Instead of moving picture spreads it carried a few mediocre snaps sent in for nothing. Is this respect for the fallen? So much for getting out in the community. How did your local do?
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Reply to Pete oop North:
What I read in the national press about the Great War is a subtle endorsement of it. Britain, a country which goes to war more than any other, is always in the right. Many countries manage to live in peace but we always have to have an enemy.
There once was a time when the Press (and even television) questioned the validity of the Great War. Did we even win World War One (America won the battles in Vietnam, but lost the war)?
Today, you don’t see the alternative viewpoint, least of all from the BBC.
To confused:
The feature looks like a fine tribute, but my point refers to the media as a whole. The commemorations are often used to fly the Union flag “my country right or wrong” and promote petty nationalism.
Journalists shouldn’t allow themselves to be used by demagogues and opportunists.
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Mine too. Heaven knows what readers make of this lethargy. Reporters and photographers used to go out on day off as an annual mark of respect. Just one day a year seems too much effort. Moral of story: if you don’t send it in, it won’t get in. Pathetic, and bad PR, when hundreds turn out for bigger gatherings.
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Jupiter, I understood the point you were making, even if some chose not to. There has undoubtedly been a conscious governmental effort in recent years to highlight ‘good’ past wars so their moral quality, if you want to call it that, somehow legitimises our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. After decades of treating veterans and widows like crap, suddenly we invented Armed Forces Day and Veterans’ Day, at which those (mostly conscripts) who, it could be argued, if somewhat simplistically, genuinely fought for national survival were encouraged to stand alongside today’s volunteer regulars whose willingness to dash off and kill whoever George W Bush wanted killed ‘because it’s what we trained for’ has made us all more of a target for domestic terrorism (according to the former head of the security service, who I imagine knows what he’s talking about). And is it mere coincidence that the day after Remembrance Day, they raised the maximum age limit for joining the Reserves?
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