Today is Remembrance day.

The Northeast is Britain’s most productive recruiting ground. For generations young men have come under fire in British warfare throughout the world.

Public confidence in political decisions and trust in the leadership of government has been challenged by a lack of popular support for the deployment of British troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The Second World War has been called; “The Last Good War”, and there can be no doubt that the experiences of civilians being bombed by the enemy during the 1939-45 war led to a public willingness to support both the war and those  who came under fire contributing to the ‘war effort’.  Returning servicemen were welcomed as heroes.

The First World War is now fading from living memory, and the veterans of the Second World War are important witnesses of the last global conflict. Their insights into the experiences of warfare should not be forgotten.  Even now, we are beginning to lose them.

The rhetoric of Remembrance Parades urges us not to forget the service people who died, and also expresses the hope of those who survived; that never again should we go to war.  Memories of their experiences as young men mean that almost all veterans feel great sympathy for the service people now engaged in conflicts, despite any ambivalence about the ‘cause’ for which they are fighting.

During the Second World War civilians at home often saw death and destruction at first hand.  Today’s conflicts are seen through the lenses of the cameras of TV, newspaper and online journalists, and – still at a safe distance – the photographic uploads of civilians with internet access.  We see the faces of people in extreme circumstances, as warfare continues around them.

Portrait photography reveals a lot about its subjects; the personality as shown in the face, the language of posture, and the contexts of both the mood and environment in which the images are made.  The longer a subject has lived; the more they have experienced, the more life leaves its mark upon them.

David Black, (Aged 91 when pictured) Royal Scots Fusiliers

Michael Haram, (Aged 84 When Pictured) Parachute Regiment

Jack Watson (Aged 87 When Pictured) Royal Artillery

Orston Bulman (Aged 91 When Pictured) Merchant Navy

Orston Bulman

Remembrance: Methodology

This series of portraits is about men who came under fire during the Second World War and its aftermath, in Israel and Cyprus immediately post-war.  The images were made following a discussion about their views; their age when they served, their feelings in exposure to enemy fire, friendships, loss and death, and the extent to which they felt a commonality of experience with their modern counterparts in Afghanistan and Iraq.  They were asked about any regrets they might have, and whether they would ‘do the same’ now if they were in the same position.  They were also asked if they would have any advice for soldiers, sailors and airmen of today and the future.

These discussions were important to prepare the sitter for the portrait, making the memory still fresh in the mind.Alongside the portraits the briefest biographical details of the men portrayed are given.  But it is the portraits themselves which should speak for them, as the complexity of life itself cannot be summed up in edited ‘soundbites’ from a single discussion and selected facts taken out of context.

Ted Hold (Aged 88 When Pictured) 6th Airborne Division

Ted Hold

Joe Hardy (Aged 92 When Pictured) Parachute Regiment

Randle Oliver (Aged 85 When Pictured) Royal Air Force

David Hughes (Aged 85 When Pictured) Royal Ordnance Corps

Peter Nichol (Aged 88 When Pictured) Royal Air Force

Harry Leers (Aged 90 When Pictured) Royal Artillery