WE walk past them with barely a second glance.
In town and village, granite war memorials with an engraved list of names bear witness to the war they called Great.
It is difficult now to sense the feeling of tremendous loss in the immediate aftermath of a conflict that touched every hamlet across the nation.
But an 81-year-old book, 'Through War To Peace, 1914-1918', gives a fascinating insight into the feelings of people in the Tavistock area at that time.
The book, of which there are only a few surviving copies, deals not only with those men who marched away but the unsung heroes and heroines on the home front. From its yellowing, fragile pages, comes a world fast fading from living memory.
Starting with the ladies of the Red Cross, the book reveals that the Tavistock Detachment of the Devon Voluntary Aid Association were at the town's hospital on November 4 1914 when the first batch of wounded arrived.
With a historian's eye for detail, the book's compiler, one R Richardson, lists the hospital staff and details the work not just of organisations but of individuals.
Thus: Kitty Trevelyan, of Meavy, who went to France to work in a canteen, and died in a hospital at Wimereux in February 1917. Or Miss S T Broderick who worked for 18 months as a kitchen maid in a military hospital then on the land cutting pit props.
Villages, too, played their part through organised working parties. Dunterton, the book states, had no working party but sent socks and shirts to the Duchess of Bedford's Military hospital at Woburn Sands.
In town and village, ladies were busily knitting and preparing parcels for the troops in the trenches that almost carved Europe in two.
Recognition of the terrible effects of war on men's minds is shown with details of the Tavistock Neurological Hospital at Mary Tavy which opened in October 1916 and ran for almost three years. The hospital, for the treatment of shell shock and various special nerve disorders, tended almost 1,000 patients who were trained in gardening, woodwork, carpentry and pig and poultry keeping. One can only wonder at the mental terrors still tormenting the men who carried out what were then everyday tasks.
In a chapter entitled The Forces, there is a list of officers and men who have gained honours, ranging from Major General Sir H B Walker, of Whitchurch, who was awarded the Croix de Guerre among many other medals and Lifton's Pte E Martin, who was given a Military Medal for gallantry on April 26 1918, to the Rev R E G Newman, of Marystowe, awarded a Military Cross for his splendid courage in visiting the wounded and encouraging all ranks during heavy machine gun and rifle fire without any regard to his own safety. A Bar was added to his MC after he was captured by the enemy but escaped and continued to stay in the front line tending to the wounded.
The book omits those who died in 1919 and 1920 from wounds and disabilities incurred during war service, but offers an interesting insight into the decisions on where to erect war memorials in town and villages. It reveals that Tavistock's war memorial was to be erected in the churchyard - alas, the plan fell by the wayside although it has been resurrected and there is a campaign underway to move it to that site.
What makes the book especially fascinating is that while memorials will list the names of the dead, this work shows when and where they died.
Somehow, it brings the human tragedy into a closer, more poignant focus.
Take a look at Brentor war memorial, for example, and the names of J Postlethwaite and Gunner R French Smith.
The first was in the Australian Cavalry and died in action in the blistering killing grounds of Gallipoli on November 2 1915; the second, in the Canadian Horse Artillery, was killed in action at Arras in June 1917. Both facts show how young emigrants retrurned to fight for the Mother Country.
It was a suffering far from the lanes of the land for which they were fighting. Compare it with the war work of, presumably, older clergy who filled the posts left by their younger counterparts on the Western Front. Thus, the Rev D W Henry ministered at Tavistock Grammar School cycling the six miles daily in all weathers and on Sundays doing duty at Kelly in the absence of the Rector.
A total of 2,625 men from the Tavistock area served in the Great War - 344 of them (excluding 57 from Kelly College) died as a result.
The book ends by asking for memories not to be too short, but to stimulate us to united effort to make Peace lasting, and the blessing it should be to us as a people and worthy of the sacrifices made for us.
Tragically, 20 years later, Europe was again plunged into a terrible war.
l The Times is grateful to Mrs Clare Gibbs, of Dousland, for supplying the book.
l Tavistock historian Gerry Woodcock and Alex Mettler are working on a project to 'bring to life' the 119 men whose names are on the town's war memorial as first world war casualties.
Their work is revealing some fascinating accounts from relatives but there are three names about which more information is needed: S Bassett, J Davey and J Trick.
If anyone has any information concerning any of the three, Mr Woodcock would be pleased to hear from them - he can be contacted on 01822 613597.