The bell tolls .....

A mixed day of sun and showers, gale force winds. Mull doing magic tricks, appearing and disappearing with great dexterity.

Oban Cemetery today, a place of peace even though it's alongside the busy A85.
I was drawn to an area of war graves from WW2. This row started with 9 people lost from the SS Pinto, some of them 'Known only to God' which always gives me the shivers. How sad not to know where your loved one's grave is located, and for someone who gave their life in service to their country not to have visitors to remember them.

On 8th September 1944, the SSPinto was torpedoed and sunk by the U-boat Matuschka, while acting as the rescue ship for a convoy of 100 ships on a voyage from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Greenock in Scotland. I believe it was a Merchant Navy vessel and crew, civilians not armed forces. The ship's Master and 15 other crew were lost, 41 were rescued by HM trawler Northern Wave and landed at Londonderry. How these 9 men came to be laid to rest in Oban is a bit of a mystery.

For me, this photo symbolises the loss of life in war going on and on and on .....



"When greed sups with the devil
And principles are shed
When power is corrupted
And truth stands on its head
When fear pervades the confused mind
And fools are easy led
When reason is a prisoner
The bell tolls for the dead."

Tom Walker, served in the Royal Navy in World War Two.