I’m currently reading John Keegan’s The First World War. Sometimes it’s hard to keep your distance, especially when you get to passages detailing the butchery such as that which occurred on the Somme in 1916.

My grandfather’s beloved older brother (and my namesake) Alan was killed there on 15 September 1916. He was a Lieutenant in the Otago Regiment of the NZEF. I need to find out a little more about his life and death. What caused him, and thousands of others, to walk willingly to their deaths?

And maybe one day I’ll go and visit his grave in France. Some things just seem to get more important with the passing of years.