War Memorials: What do they mean to you?

I don't think any particular one sparked my interest but certainly they've always been something I've noticed.

One of my schools as a kid had it's own one for former pupils for example.

This year I've done a bit more traveling around the countryside not too far from my town but enough to be going through a lot of the small villages and when there is a memorial that can be seen from the road it's a stark reminder that even the smallest of places were affected, especially up here in Scotland.

Not going to get into the political side of things but for WW1 in terms of military casualties per head of population the only country to suffer more losses than Scotland was Serbia.

This does remind me that I should go to see the Scottish National War Memorial in Edinburgh Castle again, I've not been since being taken by my parents as a kid so probably didn't appreciate it and I know the name of least one great-uncle is in the Book of Remembrance there.

My interest in WW2 was sparked by being a child of the 60s and being surrounded by relatives who talked about nothing but the war, it was the most exciting thing that had happened to them. It had only ended a few years before, 1998 in modern equivalence.

My school had its own memorial for pupils and all our older male teachers had served one way or another, my German teacher in particular had been in the SOE and had a particular hatred of Goebbels, which made his lessons rather entertaining. If any one memorial holds a particular significance, it is the one in Singapore with my grandfathers name on it.

Cheers
Martin