July 1, 2007
In Memoriam Posted by John Steele Gordon at 10:20 AM EST I rarely read the obituaries unless I’m looking for a notice that I’m sure will be there. But I sometimes look at the “In Memoriam” notices that come at the end of the New York Times obituaries. These are not notices regarding people who recently died. Rather they refer to people who died earlier but are remembered on this day, often the anniversary of their death or birth. Some are touching, some sad, some full of the memory of a life well lived. And some touch upon history. I remember particularly one I saw a few years ago. It gave the birth and death dates of a young man, say, 1965 and 1997. It was signed by another man’s name and simply quoted one of the lesser-known songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein: “You are never away from your home in my heart.” I’ll never know for sure, but it is hard not to imagine that here was one more promising life snuffed out by AIDS. Today’s Times obituary page has another entry in the “In Memoriam” section that refers to a far larger tragedy, one that began 91 years ago today. It reads:
The British Expeditionary Force
The Somme
1 July 1916
0730-2130 hours
54,000 KIA/WIA
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