As Remembrance Sunday approaches, we’ll be sharing a series of posts that reflect on remembrance and the stories behind it.
This particular image, taken from the Arthur Lewis Collection, shows a group of World War One soldiers from the Welsh Regiment enjoying a pint, a smoke, and each other’s company. On the surface, it’s a simple moment of camaraderie — yet, as ever, it’s what remains unsaid that carries the greatest weight.
Their Lives Forever Changed
In this faded photograph, a group of soldiers share a brief moment of camaraderie — mugs of beer raised, pipes lit, a small dog perched in friendly arms. Their uniforms are worn, their expressions a mix of defiance and exhaustion. For a fleeting instant, they are not on the front line but men among friends, clinging to normality amid the chaos of war.
Each face tells a story. Some would return home, forever changed by what they had seen. Others would not return at all, their names carved in stone on village memorials across Britain. Those who survived carried the war within them — in bodies scarred by shrapnel and lungs burned by gas, in minds haunted by the thunder of shells and the silence that followed.
Before the war, they were farmhands, clerks, miners, teachers — ordinary men with ordinary dreams. The war took their innocence, reshaping a generation that had seen the very worst of humanity, yet also the best of brotherhood. They learned the true meaning of courage not in glory, but in endurance — in holding the line, in sharing a crust of bread, in comforting a dying friend.
After the guns fell silent, they returned to streets that felt strangely smaller, to lives that could never again feel whole. They built, they worked, they raised families — but always, the memories lingered. In every Remembrance Sunday that followed, they stood in quiet ranks once more, remembering not the victories, but the faces of those who did not come home.
This photograph reminds us that remembrance is not just about loss, but about lives — lives lived, changed, and given in the hope of peace. Their laughter, their courage, and their sacrifice remain woven into the fabric of who we are today.
(A massive thank you to the Lewis Family for sharing Arthur’s photos)