to thank us troops in iraq. nearly two years into his presidency, it's his first trip to see soldiers under his command in a combat zone, and just days after two of his highest—level advisers resigned over his decision to pull american troops out of neighbouring syria. air traffic has been rerouted around the anak krakatau volcano in indonesia which is continuing to spew out ash nearly a week after it caused a tsunami which killed more than 400 people. the restriction zone around the volcano has been extended to five kilometres. a 33 year—old american man has become the first person to cross antarctica alone and unassisted. colin o'brady finished in fifty—three days, ahead of a british army captain, louis rudd, who had been racing him across the ice. now, as we near the end of 2018, events to mark 100 years since the end of world war one have come to a close. for this special programme the bbc‘s robert hall has been finding out how

people across britain commemorated those who fought and died a century ago. last month, europe marked the end of the terrible conflict. the first world war cost millions of lives and ruined millions more. a century on from the armistice, this generation paused to remember tragedies both global and personal. you just cannot believe what man can do to man. i am known in the village as 'poppy lady' now. this is the imperial

war museum in london. today with sister sites around the uk, it reflects world conflict across the generations. the museum was founded back in 1917 to tell the story of the first world war. last month the duchess of cambridge was here to see a cascade of poppies marking british and commonwealth lives lost. around britain the centenary of the armistice brought thousands more events in cities, towns, villages and even on our beaches. the film director danny boyle who masterminded the 2012 olympic opening ceremony in london led an initiative to create sand portraits of soldiers lost on the battlefields. sean peel from bbc look east watched one project unfolding at brancaster in norfolk. a crisp autumn afternoon on brancaster beach, tide out, bright sunshine lighting the scene as families and walkers

enjoyed just being together, a perfect sunday to remember those no longer here. with the wet sand providing a canvas, work began to create a portrait of a man who died in the great war. there and gone like the tide, never to return to these stores. they're creating an image of driver stephen hewitt. he was born in halvergate in norfolk and died in 1916 aged 37. luckily sand is quite flexible, so you can always sort of cover over a little bit if it's not working. but we wanted to be careful, we worked in pairs to keep checking we were doing it right, and i think we were really pleased with the end result. stephen hewitt was a driver in the field artillery looking after the horses used to take the guns into battle. he was fighting the bulgarians in greece, but one day out riding he was attacked by a pack of wolves and died of his injuries. for amelia 0rd, it was an emotional day. stephen hewitt

was her great grandad. she only heard this was happening two days before, a chance glance at a piece in a newspaper so she drove here from newcastle. very emotional, i've cried all the way on the journey down here. i always find remembrance sunday emotional, and i think it is because i am interested in our family history and today is much more. we made sure we stopped at 11 o'clock to do a two—minute silence, and yes, it has been tugging at the heartstrings all morning, we will be here until it is dark. "the century's tides, charting their bitter psalms cannot heal it. " not the war to end all wars, death's birthing place." as the light faded a poem was recited, pages of the sea by the poet laureate carol ann duffy. "history might as well be water, chastising this shore. for we learn nothing from your endless sacrifice. " at the going down of the day

at brancaster, those who came to remember left before nightfall, leaving the incoming tide to take driver stephen hewitt into its arms. the armistice commemorations have centred on lives lost in combat. but as gerry jackson from bbc look north discovered, amongthe graves of those killed during four years of bloodhsed are others, of men who died after the fighting stopped. our first world war dead lie in hundreds of commonwealth cemeteries on the battlefields of europe, the middle east and africa. but more than 130,000 of them died in the uk. this is sunderland. as the leaves fell in 1918, many relatives must have thought their loved ones had made it through the worst. private robert reveley is wounded

in france in mid—october, and is invalided back to a hospital in the midlands where he dies on the 10th of november. it is all but certain that his wife kate, in roker, would have received a telegram on armistice day, perhaps as the church bells were ringing and people were in the streets celebrating. 0n the 12th, she writes to his regiment, asking for the return of his personal belongings. she says: "i shall be very grateful if you will oblige me in this matter. it may seem a small thing to ask for, but it means a lot to me." andrew neil had been blinded in the war. he died six months after the armistice and should have had a military headstone. for nearly a century he lay in an unmarked grave. the problem was that his death certificate said jacksonian epilepsy, but it was not attributing that to war injuries. we knew that he died

as a result of the great war. we knew that he died as a result of the great war. then sometime later we got his pension disability card. and this is it. same cause of death, but in small letters, "due to active service." you know, the man gave his eyes and his life for his country, and now he has got something back to recognise that. my mum and my aunties said my grandad was blinded in the first world war. never knew anything else. to see the stone now, especially when you drive up the road and it gleams, it is just fantastic. sergeant neil's story is one of many researched by the northumbria world war i commemoration project, a seven year community volunteer remembrance endeavour. john youll from county durham had won the victoria cross in the italian alps in the summer of 1918. he was killed four days before the fighting ended there in october. news of his death only reached his family on armistice day.

you can't help wondering what these people would have become, what they would have gone on to do. collectively they made a sacrifice which we can scarcely imagine today. and surely for that at least, we should remain grateful. this anniversary perhaps more than any other has drawn us into our own family history. 80—year—old andrew sturt from surrey had never visited the battlefields, but he wanted to find the graves of three uncles who still lie on the western front. bbc south today went with him. andrew and his son richard are making a specialjourney. aged 80, andrew sees this as his last chance to visit the graves of his three uncles, who all died fighting in france. he has never made this trip before. they head to noyon cemetery

in the north of france. we are getting close to the british section now. where your uncle harold lies. andrew's father edwin would have found these visits too painful to make. edwin had answered the call to fight for king and country, as had five of his brothers. 0rdinary country lads from chobham village in surrey. against the odds, all six were still alive four years later. but in the final year of the war, that would change. it is just frightening. you just cannot believe what man can do to man. harold was the first brother to die. he was a lorry driver for the army service corps, delivering supplies to the frontline. one day he drove over an unexploded shell and died instantly. very sad, isn't it.

aged 28. yeah. he was the oldest of the three who died. he lived to almost the end of the war. then he and his two brothers died in very quick succession. carrying on theirjourney, the next grave is especially poignant. andrew's uncle reginald is buried here. of all the brothers, he was particularly close to andrew's own father. my father has written a letter to his uncle. "you were so cruelly taken from the family by that sniper‘s bullet, on your first day of active service." both: we will remember you. there is one more cemetery to visit — the grave of herbert. just two months before

the war would finally come to an end, herbert was killed, aged 19. it was his sacrifice which broke your grandmother's heart. that was the final straw, undoubtedly. in the last year of the war, the sturts had lost three sons in the space of six months. tragic, but not unusual. many families had been robbed of their young men, a lost generation who had made the ultimate sacrifice. the sturt brothers were part of what was dubbed the "lost generation". small communities were hardest hit, fighting to survive without the young men who had marched off to war. as jackie 0'brien from reporting scotland discovered, even those who returned faced a harsh future. the cameron highlanders left the north of scotland in their droves.

full of youth and hope that theirjob would be done by christmas. but many of them didn't return, and it later emerged that the number of highland servicemen killed in action more than doubled the national average. the loss of young men was catastrophic. the work on the croft, crofting and fishing are both activities that require fit, strong young men. and a lot of them just weren't there. so the work on the crofts had to be done quite often by old men and women. the sense of gloom that pervaded the whole community must have been palpable. donald angus shaw was too young to fight at first, but he defied his parents and left his family croft near portree as soon as he turned 16. he died at arras on the western front a year later.

one of a total of 600 skye men lost to the island community. just a lost generation really. many of them had married young, and some young mothers were widowed very young, and they had to bring up the children on their own, which was not easy. because there were no cars in those days, and they had to walk everywhere. sport suffered too, so many young north shinty players fought and fell together, that local clubs struggled to produce teams after 1918. beauly‘s camanachd cup hero donald paterson died with his brother at the battle of festubert. but his pipes, which were recovered with a manuscript, still play the tune he wrote while under fire in france. his mother obviously grief stricken at losing two sons out of three, just put his belongings away,

and no one had really looked inside the pipe box, but the old bag cover had traces of blood on it, and there was a tune in the box that he had written for the beauly shinty club back in the trenches, and it had not seen the light of day until, this was about 1980. for some of those who did survive the trenches, a new struggle awaited them at home, after croft land a promise to the highlander heroes was not being handed over. some occupied the ground illegally, insisting that after taking on the germans and their machine—guns, a court order meant nothing to them. those who survived the horrors of the first world war never forgot the poppies which flowered in the mud of no man's land. today of course they are a symbol of remembrance. a team from inside out west visited a gloucestershire village where one woman had recruited an army to create the charfield yarm bomb of knitted flowers.

my name is helen date and i started the charfield yarn bomb. it was just a simple post on the charfield village forums asking if anyone wanted to meet a few poppies to decorate our church. from there, it grew each month. more people wanting to help. it expanded to the church and the bus stop and the shop. now we are doing the whole 2—mile stretch right the way through charfield. we originally said we'd need to 3,000 poppies and somebody said that 7,777 men in the gloucester area lost their lives. so we decided to make a lot more. it hits everybody every year but this year being the 100th years since the end of the great war, it reminds us what was done for us. it brings back the reality

of what happened and the sacrifice they made all those years ago. i'd say about 100, 120 local ladies. a lot of people who didn't know each other so it's just amazing the way the group has bonded. i live on my own and since i've been doing these

poppies, i've met some really, really nice people, people i've seen in the village but hadn't talked to. i didn't know very many people at all in the village. go to the pub and meet a few people there but there are fewer women there and i've met some really nice ladies and had some really good conversations and fun times with them. each one is a life that was lost in the great war. each one of these, to me, is a person, not only that were lost but somebody made these poppies with love. you could put that in the church. yeah? yeah. put it on the vicar's head. this one? put it on his head. we need to make sure we have enough to get right the way through the village. i think there are going to be plenty of poppies. we've got 11,000. everything is going up now. it is a pinch—me moment where it is all happening. i love it, it's great.

real good. it's taken a lot of work. yeah, it has really made me think about all the people that went off to war. that is just unbelievable. it couldn't look any better. right to the end. you've done it. i just thank you all so much. yes, thank you. i am known in the village as the poppy lady now, that's my name. i haven't got a name, it's that populate there. poppies! as world war i recedes into history, how will we continue to remember the events that unfolded during those four costly years?

well, one ambitious plan is to link existing footpath along the western front stretching from switzerland to the belgian coast and creating a journey of remembrance. as i discovered, that idea originated in letters from the front written by a young british officer. "there are graves scattered up and down. "the ground is so pitted and scarred and "torn with shells and tangled with wire." alexander gillespie was 26 when he wrote his last letters home in the weeks before his death, he began to plan a project that could now become his legacy. my great uncle was a prolific letter writer. countryfile presenter tom heap is alexander gillespie's great—nephew. well, he had this extraordinary leap of imagination when he was in the trenches amongst the fighting that he thought, when this is all over and peace comes, we should put a route along no—man‘s—land for people of all nations to come and walk along.

the vision is a network of marked paths stretching from the swiss border to the belgian coast, tracing the trench lines of the western front. that's over 630 miles. that means negotiating with dozens of landowners and local councils but so far, reaction has been encouraging. translation: from the first moment i heard about the path, i immediately saw how it could work. i think we must widen the ways that we remember the past because if we don't do that, people will lose interest. this monument was sculpted by... high on vimy ridge stands this memorial to canadian troops who fought on the western front. here too gillespie's vision has received an enthusiastic welcome. i think it's a great opportunity. we have certainly visitors who come on pilgrimage to visit and follow the path of their ancestors and this gives them an alternate route than taking highways and going around about,

they can actually walk the western front, as their ancestors did. tom heap believes projects like this provide new ways of connecting with a conflict that is moving further and further into our distant history. this, to me, is exactly what my great uncle envisaged when he was in those trenches 103 years ago today. he died somewhere near here, we don't know exactly where, but to me it's quite sort of spine tingling, the thought that we are pretty much doing what he envisaged. "i would like to send every man, woman and child in western europe "on pilgrimage along that sacred road "so they might think and learn what war means "from the silent witnesses on either side." "a sentimental idea, perhaps,

"but we might make the most beautiful road in all the world." reconciliation was a central theme of the centenary and our final story mirrors that. keeley donovan from inside out yorkshire and lincolnshire brought us the tale of two families from opposite sides of the conflict up late old ghosts to rest. emile specht is a man on a mission, coming to grimsby from the south of france, searching the truth about his uncle who died in world war i. translation: our father didn't talk very much about his brother because he was so upset by his death. we were very young so he didn't really tell us anything. emile discovered his uncle drowned after his zeppelin crashed into the north sea.

grimsby fishermen william martin came across the wrecked airship but refused to rescue the 16—man crew. ever since, skipper martin has been criticised for his decision to let the germans die. four years ago, we filmed skipper martin's great—grandson pat thompson at heinrich‘s grave in denmark, where the german's body was washed up. all i can do is offer my apologies to his family. emile, the airman‘s nephew, got in touch after seeing our film and he wants to meet pat. translation: when i found pat thompson had gone to my uncle to ask in his great—grandfather's name forforgiveness, i felt it was my duty to do something to show that we wanted to grant forgiveness on our father's behalf. for pat, going to be an emotional meeting. emile, this is pat. we have passed to put right

of our families, right? yes. and i hope we can put that right while you are in england. welcome to england. the german airmen were still alive on the wreckage. they asked for help but skipper martin, who said his crew were heavily outnumbered, ordered the trawler to turn away. the lost airmen weren't the only casualties. skipper martin never recovered from the terrible decision he made that day. within a year, at the age of a5, he was dead. in grimsby, emile and pat are back together. they have a final duty to perform at skipper martin's grave. translation: captain william martin, i am standing by your great—grandson pat and i'm speaking to you. today, on behalf of our family, i come to bring you ourforgiveness. goodness. merci beaucoup. one of the most powerful exhibits

marking the centenary came from the archives here at the imperial war museum. during the war, artillery observers used sound measurements to calculate the positions of german guns. they were marked on a chart on one of those charts records the moment leading up to the ceasefire. sound designers have used to recreate what the soldiers on both front lines would have heard that day. so i will leave you with the sounds of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 100 years ago. goodbye. sustained gunfire and explosions silence

hello there. it may not have been a white christmas but it wasn't a particularly bright christmas either for many of us. this was how it looked on boxing day in tenby in the south—west of wales.

a lot of cloud around and through the day ahead again it will be often cloudy, but it should remain largely dry. we have high pressure still firmly in charge to the south. frontal systems dancing across the far north of the uk so a bit of patchy rain still clearing eastwards across scotland but for many more, it's a dry start and a relatively mild start, although notice, something a little bit cooler showing up across the south of england and south wales. could be at touch of frost here and that is because the skies have been clearing and after any early fog has cleared, across the southern counties of england and the south of wales, that is where we have a decent chance of seeing some sunshine through the day. also, the north and east of scotland, parts of north—east england, maybe north—east wales and merseyside, these areas could see some sunshine. elsewhere, generally a lot of cloud, it may be the odd spot of drizzle, most will be dry and highs of 8—12. through thursday night, there could still be large areas of cloud and fog floating around

but a bit of a change up to the north—west — we see thicker cloud, some outbreaks of rain moving across northern ireland and into western scotland by the end of the night. if the cloud does break for any length of time where you are, you might get a touch of frost but most of us won't. so for friday, we'll see these outbreaks of rain trundling eastwards across scotland. much of the rain quite light and quite patchy. as it clears, the skies will clear too. for scotland and also northern ireland and northern england, maybe down into the midlands, something brighter, some sunshine by friday afternoon, with more cloud down towards the south. and then we get on into the weekend. high pressure still in charge, our familiar friend sitting just to the south. this frontal system actually likely to spin up into an area of low pressure which will pass just across the northern half of scotland. some outbreaks of pretty heavy rain here and then potentially some patchy rain also sliding into northern ireland and northern england as a day wears on.

further south again, a lot of cloud but a lot of dry weather. a mild day on saturday — 10—12 degrees. for sunday, there could still be a little bit of patchy rain around but for most it is more of this largely dry but largely cloudy weather, some sunny breaks here and there and those temperatures still doing well for this time of year. 11, maybe 13 degrees in places. for new year's eve and of course new year's day, it is looking largely dry, pretty cloudy, but for most of us, it will be mild. good morning. welcome to breakfast with louise minchin. 0ur headlines today: anger over hospital parking charges as more than a third of nhs trusts in england put up their fees. ash erupting from the krakatoa volcano in indonesia forces flights to be rerouted, days after it triggered a deadly tsunami. a british entertainer on one of the world's largest cruise ships is missing after going overboard on christmas day. president trump defends his decision to pull us troops out of syria as he makes a surprise trip to iraq.

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