Read Made in Myrtle Street (Prequel) Online
Authors: B A Lightfoot
Liam picked up a rose and held it to his lips as he rocked on his heels. Bugles sounded the last post at a distant grave. As the final soaring note faded Liam began to sing, quietly at first then reaching up in pleading supplication, a beautiful but tortured sound that plucked at chords deep within Edward’s body. A large black bird circled over them and cried its counterpoint whilst magpies on the ground chattered the chorus. There were no mountains in Weaste Cemetery to echo the ullalullah but in the rustling trees the souls of Salford wept for the spirit of another victim of that devastating war. A lament for Big Charlie’s Dot; now given her absolution.
Postscript
From the initial battalion strength of over 1500 men in September 1914, the 1/8 Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers had lost 561 officers and other ranks, killed, died of wounds or sickness, and missing, by the time that they returned to Salford in April 1919.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents