7 Burying
-
Lucy Noakes
Abstract
This chapter argues that the dead body can continue to work for the wartime nation, but that it also has the power to extraordinarily disruptive. In the ‘people’s war’, this meant the bodies of ‘ordinary’ citizens, both military and civilian. While the army and navy were able to adapt pre-existing traditions of burial to manage and honour the bodies of combatants killed in action, there were no such traditions in place for the burial of civilians killed by aerial warfare, or for the many thousands of air crew who died in bombing raids over mainland Europe. Beginning with a survey of debates about the amount of compensation that should be paid to the relatives of the dead, the chapter considers, firstly, the management of the military dead, including postwar attempts to identify the dead of the RAF, and secondly, the management of the civilian dead, looking at the collective burial of those killed in Coventry, Belfast and Clydebank.
Abstract
This chapter argues that the dead body can continue to work for the wartime nation, but that it also has the power to extraordinarily disruptive. In the ‘people’s war’, this meant the bodies of ‘ordinary’ citizens, both military and civilian. While the army and navy were able to adapt pre-existing traditions of burial to manage and honour the bodies of combatants killed in action, there were no such traditions in place for the burial of civilians killed by aerial warfare, or for the many thousands of air crew who died in bombing raids over mainland Europe. Beginning with a survey of debates about the amount of compensation that should be paid to the relatives of the dead, the chapter considers, firstly, the management of the military dead, including postwar attempts to identify the dead of the RAF, and secondly, the management of the civilian dead, looking at the collective burial of those killed in Coventry, Belfast and Clydebank.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Acknowledgements vi
- 1 Introduction 1
- 2 Shadowing 21
- 3 Feeling 45
- 4 Planning 73
- 5 Coping 101
- 6 Dying 125
- 7 Burying 155
- 8 Grieving 193
- 9 Remembering 229
- 10 Conclusion 265
- Bibliography 271
- Index 291
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Acknowledgements vi
- 1 Introduction 1
- 2 Shadowing 21
- 3 Feeling 45
- 4 Planning 73
- 5 Coping 101
- 6 Dying 125
- 7 Burying 155
- 8 Grieving 193
- 9 Remembering 229
- 10 Conclusion 265
- Bibliography 271
- Index 291
