Tilly-sur-Seulles War Cemetery

Normandy, France, 2004

Burial site of British Poet Keith Douglas, died fighting in France just after D-Day

Video shot June 10, 2004 at the British War Cemetery at Tilly-sur-Seuilles, in Normandy, France where poet Keith C. Douglas is buried. Also included is some footage shot at the Caen Mémorial de Caen (Peace Museum), regarded as the best World War II museum in France. With over 6,000,000 visitors since it opened, it is the second most visited site in Normandy after Mont-St-Michel. Featured is the file card from Gestapo files of one Claud Huard, arrested in 1944. Claud was the uncle of Rene Huard, who was our driver and guide for much of our tour of Normandy.

Captain Keith Castellain Douglas, - An English World War II poet who took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, at the age of 24, died in France a few days after the Normandy landings. He was killed by enemy mortar fire on 9 June while the Regiment was advancing from Bayeux. He is buried at the war cemetery at Tilly-sur-Seuilles.

Born: 1920
Killed: 1944
Aged 24

Keith Douglas was born in Tunbridge Wells and educated at Christ's Hospital and Oxford. He served in North Africa during World War Two where he was injured by a land-mine and transferred home. Recovered, he returned to active duty to take part in the invasion of Normandy in 1944. His war poetry shows clearly painted imagery without mournful sentiment. His poem "Desert Flowers" pays homage to Isaac Rosenberg.

Actors Waiting In The Wings Of Europe
Aristocrats
Desert Flowers
How to Kill
Simplify Me When I'm Dead
Vergissmeinnicht ('Forget-me-not')

Douglas described his poetic style as 'extrospective'; that is, he focused on external impressions rather than inner emotions. The result is a poetry which, according to his detractors, can be callous in the midst of war's atrocities. For others, Douglas's work is powerful and unsettling because its exact descriptions eschew egotism and shift the burden of emotion from the poet to the reader. His best poetry is generally considered to rank alongside the twentieth-century's finest soldier-poetry.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Keith
• Douglas
• D-Day
• Normandy
• Cemetery
• War
• Poetry
• Travel
• culture
• European
• Theatre
• British
• WW2

[propfan2k]

Same here.

[karlshoneybear]

great vid ta...and ill tell u why....ive been looking for a pic of KD's grave and suddenly i find a vid...a chap in eygpt was onto me looking for a pic of the headstone..i was happy to send him this link...was grandfather served and died in the Sherwood Rangers.with KD....great regiment...made up of great men!...k

[ObltKG4]

Nice video. Thank you.

You can visit my page Obltkg4 for some of my Veteran Tributes.

[beccalove76]

I went there with my ex's Grandfather, he fought in the war and was there on D Day. He wanted to go before he died. It was the most amazing places i've ever seen. Until I went there the war just seemed like part of history to me.. But seeing the thousands of white crosses took my breath away as i realised those crosses were for very young men (teenagers) that fought for England and America.  I think young people should be taken there with their schools.

[warmadscot]

one of the most touching places I have ever been, i had a huge lump in my throat the whole time I was there, R.I.P. lads