Ken Linge

Missing But Not Forgotten – Dedicated to those who have no Known Grave

Missing But Not Forgotten compiled and written by Pam and Ken Linge is one of the best homage’s to those who died on the Somme with no known grave. On the famous Thiepval Memorial there are 72,000 names of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and are remembered on the many panels.

This book gives short biographies of some of those men on the Thiepval Memorial and have done this in conjunction with the Thiepval Project. The authors have asked for their royalties from this book to be given to the Royal British Legion and the ABF The Soldiers’ Charity.

The book is easily set up in to chapters so that you can understand the definition of what ‘Missing’ meant and explains that at some point in the war they were classified as missing. That investigations show that some of those classified as missing, were found to have survived, or being treated in Military Hospital or were Prisoners of War.

There is also an explanation of the Thiepval Memorial; in that it is the largest British Memorial anywhere in the world and that it is also a Battle Memorial as well as a Memorial to the Missing. It explains why the location of the memorial and who designed it, how and what it is built it. The cost of the memorial was around £117,000 roughly £6 million in modern money.

The most haunting part of this book are the short biographies of those on the memorial along with their picture. Looking at their pictures and biographies just reminds you how young and brave those men were, and we owe them a great deal. Besides the soldiers it also explains there would have been well known figures such as those in the Footballers Battalion, cricketers and other sportsmen.

This is a wonderful book, a book that honours the dead and remembers the missing, well researched and well written. A fantastic reference book and memorial to a deadly campaign.… (meer)