From Cannoick to Lobethal
...e 1940's as a young boy I was very pleased to receive a paper bag of sweets (lollies) which at that time were in very short supply. When I related this little incident to my cousin Harry Gibson I could not help but smile as he told me that I must have been very privileged to get such a treat, she – his aunt - never gave any to him. I think even after some 60 years it still seem to nark him a little. However, Harry and his wife Margaret were so very friendly and after providing us lunch drove us around Cannock to see if I could remember any of the places I visited so long ago. As is the case so many things have changed over half a century that it was hard to locate much.which seemed familiar. To finish off our day he drove us to the the nearby national park and beauty spot of Cannock Chase . I guess that during our Hills bus trip we visited a number of cemeteries so it would not be unusual to mention that we walked round the very large cemetery there on the edge of Cannock Chase. I guess by now you may be wondering what on earth does our visit to the English Midlands and a Cemetery there have to do with the Sorb Society outing. In some respects not a lot except to say that in visiting the little museum at the back of the Lobethal Lutheran Church I was fascinated and struck with seeing one of the little exhibits which brought back many memories of our visit to the Cemetery at Cannock in England The museum photographs and small artifacts were of what had happened to a German Zeppelin which had been shot down not far from London during 1916. I am not sure if many descendants of German and perhaps Sorbish people are aware that the largest German war cemetery in England is at Cannock with the bodies nearly 5,000 German war dead buried there . There, also nearby, is a British War Cemetery with includes just a few Australians and a greater number of New Zealanders. Most of whom seemed to have died in the 1918 influenza epedemic. Of the 5,000 German war dead buried there 2142 died during World War One and 2,796 during World War Two. Many of the dead were originally buried nearby to where they were killed following air crashes etc or where they had been washed up by the sea from sunken ships. From about 1960 all the bodies from around England were reinterred at Cannock Chase and the Cemetery is maintained by the German War Graves Commission just as the British War Graves Commision look after the many British cemeteries all around the world. Also in Cannock Chase is the memorial to the 14,000 Polish Officers who were killed at Katyn in Poland in 1940. Cannock Chase was the site of a...