I will never go to war, you know. I will never have to. The first time I go to France will be a trip with my school.
That’s a line from the author Lee Child. It’s not from one of his Jack Reacher books, but from a letter — a letter to a man who was very much in harm’s way 100 years ago.
Child is taking part in a special event called Letter to an Unknown Soldier (on Twitter, @letter1418).
Its official opening is Saturday, June 28. It will run for 37 days, until 11 p.m. London time on August 4 — the moment on which Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith in 1914 told the House of Commons that Great Britain had joined the First World War.
The letter-writing campaign is, in fact, one of the nation’s World War I Centenary art commissions. With a characteristic eye for interactivity, the Canadian-born authorKate Pullinger, who lives in London, has created the event in such a way that the public has a role to play.
You can write a letter, yourself, to the intently focused young man who stands on Platform 1 at London’s Paddington Station, gazing down at the paper in his hands. With delicate grace, the soldier’s fingers hold the paper with care; this is something precious to this boy.
By Porter Anderson | @Porter_Anderson
Writing on the Ether: Writing Letters To The Past: London’s War Memorial Of Words
Originally published by Thought Catalog at www.ThoughtCatalog.com