Remembering All Who Served

Remember Together is a project that encourages British school children to research the history of their families or people in their community and the role they played in the World Wars, with a particular emphasis on unearthing the histories of those who are often forgotten in official Remembrance Day ceremonies, like the more than 3 million citizens of the Empire who served in WWI.

Remember Together is supported by the British Legion, the charity that supports former servicemen and women and runs the annual Remembrance Poppy campaign. It is run by British Future, a charity that works on integration, diversity and attitudes to immigration. The charity commissioned a survey which found that 78% of respondents agrees that doing more to recognise the Commonwealth contribution in World War Two would be a positive way to promote understanding of the shared history of today’s multi-ethnic Britain.

The project works with schools to research personal histories from past wars. These Sixth Formers from Falinge Park High School in Rochdale, Greater Manchester contacted their local community to uncover the family stories of Second World War service from black and Asian soldiers.

They published texts, videos and photos about the veterans on the school website.

A group of Year Nines from Eden Girls’ School in London also interviewed community members and both the interviewers and interviewees felt the experience had changed their attitude to remembrance and history.

Unknown and Untold
This group of Sixth Formers from Bradford, Yorkshire, worked with a local rapper, Blazer Boccle, to express the thoughts the project had inspired about the contribution of 400,000 Indian Muslim soldiers in World War One. Although they rap, “Look into the history books and find what you’ve been missing”, ultimately their message is that no one, no matter what their background, should have to fight in war: “The pain and the suffering, the injustice and remorse. This is what we must remember.”