Remembrance Sunday is with us again.
11 November 2007
Later today I will be going over to attend the service at the War Memorial and it has got me reflecting...has this day, Remembrance Sunday, become more important to each and all of us in recent times. As an event, if I can call it an event, it seems to reach into our souls far more than it ever did. Im not sure why this is, perhaps it is because the world has become far more unstable in recent times with new threats voiced almost every day, and perhaps now we appreciate our armed forces more than we ever did, as they strive to protect us from the current enemy at the gate. Yes perhaps now we appreciate the great and glorious sacrifices many of them made in the not so glorious past, and indeed are making in the killing fields of today and year in year out.
Since last year, when we stood at the War Memorial, 41 military personal have been killed in Afghanistan and 44 have been killed in Irag, so the killing goes on. Interestingly this day is about remembering the dead of two world wars and, as I understand it, current veterans are not encouraged to take part or indeed allowed to take part. Not sure why this is....?
Our best way of remembering the previous dead is to make sure our current armed forces are cared for more than perhaps they were in the past. To make sure they have the best and right equipment for the job and to make sure they dont take part in worthless wars.
Later, all being well, we will have some pictures of those taking part today. If you have any comment please add below. Very welcome.
The picture above was sent to me by Alison Williams last year,
and shows her Grandad* (Apologies to Alison for the earlier inaccuracy
now corrected:see below) amongst the war graves in Arnhem.
Later today I will be going over to attend the service at the War Memorial and it has got me reflecting...has this day, Remembrance Sunday, become more important to each and all of us in recent times. As an event, if I can call it an event, it seems to reach into our souls far more than it ever did. Im not sure why this is, perhaps it is because the world has become far more unstable in recent times with new threats voiced almost every day, and perhaps now we appreciate our armed forces more than we ever did, as they strive to protect us from the current enemy at the gate. Yes perhaps now we appreciate the great and glorious sacrifices many of them made in the not so glorious past, and indeed are making in the killing fields of today and year in year out.Since last year, when we stood at the War Memorial, 41 military personal have been killed in Afghanistan and 44 have been killed in Irag, so the killing goes on. Interestingly this day is about remembering the dead of two world wars and, as I understand it, current veterans are not encouraged to take part or indeed allowed to take part. Not sure why this is....?
Our best way of remembering the previous dead is to make sure our current armed forces are cared for more than perhaps they were in the past. To make sure they have the best and right equipment for the job and to make sure they dont take part in worthless wars.
Later, all being well, we will have some pictures of those taking part today. If you have any comment please add below. Very welcome.
The picture above was sent to me by Alison Williams last year,
and shows her Grandad* (Apologies to Alison for the earlier inaccuracy
now corrected:see below) amongst the war graves in Arnhem.
- The eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month .... So many lives lost for so little gain, especially in the first world war, the days of the Somme come to mind.. Arhnem, a poignant moment, seeing Alison's picture of her father following on from watching the film 'A Bridge to far' last night, brought back the painful stories that my father tries not to remember as he was with Frost back in 1944, he lost so many close friends and comrades all those years ago. In Afghanistan & Iraq the same thing is forever happening, just the date has changed, we shall remember them .....
- We will never forget them.
- I was covering the service with Paul this morning as we do every year, they will never ever be forgotten, it seems to get harder every year.
- Yes it was a very well organised event as ever and very sensitively done. I thought the turnout was a bit down on recent years so was a bit disappointed there. I viewed from a different angle so perhaps Im wrong but I felt somehow the turnout would be higher due to our arm forces being in difficult and dangerous action overseas. I felt people would turnout in force in a kind of moral support.But a big well done to those who did.
There will be pictures and so on coming (perhaps tomorrow now) so watch for those. Amazingly the rain held off until the ceremony was over. The parade passed by St Mary's Church in dry conditions and as soon as it was done the heavens opened. - It was a most moving event. For us, with the Dover War Memorial Project, it is heart-rending, knowing so much of who was lost, and how, and of the families they left behind. There are many courages in war time. We should never forget - and also, I feel, never stop celebrating. Remembrance perhaps marks the best, as well as the worst, of humankind.
From where we were standing there were many people - in the back rows there were even people sitting on others shoulders, or standing up on steps, so that they could see. This included all age ranges. There was even a delightful moment when a toddler stepped forward from the crowd, and drew smiles from those of us standing close by. What better underlining of the meaning of Remembrance could there be, while we stand to honour those who lost all, and see at the same time, the newer generations, beneficiaries of what went before, and our hopes for the future.
- Just have to point out the picture above is of my Grandad, not my Dad.
Thankfully we still have him with us. He is able to give us first-hand accounts of what he experienced during WWII, to ensure that, at least, our family understand and can educate the next generations.
On Sunday, during the 2 minutes silence my thoughts were not only with my Grandad, for what he went through and the fact that we have still been able to grow up having him around, but of his good chums who didn't escape death and also for the many, many other victims of all the wars, including those still going on.
- Sorry, I forgot to mention that the graves by which my Grandad is standing in the photo are the final resting places of 4 of his very good friends.
They were all together taking shelter in a church when there was a mortar bomb attack. My Grandad was blown down some steps and when he got back up he found his dear friends had been killed. They were his gun crew and they had all survived the Normandy landings, right through the France campaign and Operation Market Garden, together.
The cemetary shown is just over the boarder of Holland into German. That's how close they were to the end of the war.
So you can imagine how it felt for me, my nan and my mum to take this photo. Oh how different our lives could have been and how so, so lucky I feel to still have my dear Grandad with me. - Visiting that War Cemetary (pictured) was an incredible experience and such visits should be compulsory in the education curriculum. That particular cemetary was the Rheinwald Forest (spelling from memory).
We went with a party of Market Garden vets (the Arnhem campaign of A Bridge Too Far fame) two years ago. They were a great crowd, sadly fewer in numbers now in just that short time.
On a more cheerful note, we spent Rememberance Day afternoon with Bill (Alison's Grandad). I set up a computer for him and Alison gave them a lesson in how to work it. We also put some shortcuts in their favourites, including Doverforum so they will be online today taking a look, Alison is on the phone now going through it with them....
So at 85 years Bill is on-line for the first time.... you are never too old... - What a poignant story Alison & Barry, it is good that Bill has joined the ranks of the 'Silver Surfers' as they are known and long may they continue.
- Lovely photos on the Home page, very moving.
- I always feel so proud it means alot to those old soldier,s we can never forget what they did for us, my grandfather was in both first and second world wars won his fair share of medals, he was lucky he came home.