We attended the dawn service at the Australian National Memorial just outside Villers Bretonneux and then spent the day touring parts of the Western Front. In a day of strong emotional reactions, it was the simple stark stories of individual's actions in extraordinary situations which brought a lump to one's throat.
"The cost of World War I in human lives is difficult to estimate and impossible to imagine. About 65 million men were mobilized to fight. During the four years of slaughter, more than half of those men became casualties: 8.5 million killed, 21 million wounded, nearly 8 million missing inaction or taken prisoner. In addition, an estimated 10 million civilians perished in war-related famine and disease" - Russell Friedman: The War to End All Wars.
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