We visited Étaples Military Cemetery today, which, like all Commonwealth War Grave Commission sites, is immaculately maintained. This particular cemetery is the largest CWGC site in France, containing over 11,500 burials, the vast majority (10,773) from the First World War.

To say that I enjoy visiting such places would be to use the wrong word. Rather, I feel that it is necessary, as I believe it is important to remember the thousands of young men whose lives were lost in past wars and to be reminded of the terrible human impact of war. To see row upon row of gravestones, and to read some of the names and other details, and to scan through the registers kept at the entrance, helps us to get past the dry stuff of history lessons and grasp in some small way at least, the upsetting horror of such conflicts.

In my view, that is definitely worth the upset of visiting such a place.