The Remembrance Day service each year on the Sunday nearest November 11 is always a very moving occasion, when the nation gathers to honour those who died fighting for their country
For those who lost members of their families and for those of us who served in the armed forces, whether professionally or on National Service, we are mindful of the courageous sacrifice of young men and women who helped save our country.
However, there is a feeling too that the day belongs to other strong strands of remembrance. There is a shadow over the day if we don’t hold in our minds those of other nations, friend and foe alike, who equally obeyed the call to arms in a cause over which they had no control.
There is a gap in our thinking if we do not recall also the civilian sacrifice of life, the enormity of death in our cities wrought by these wars. We should remember, too, those who obeyed their consciences and refused to take arms to kill, but joined organisations such as the Friends Ambulance Brigade or the Voluntary Aid Detachment as VAD nurses, or suffered imprisonment for their beliefs as conscientious objectors to war.
Later generations have come to terms with the literature of war and the pity and futility of war, as portrayed by poets such as Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon and the music of Benjamin Britten. We have a yearning for peace that cannot and should not be denied, but rather expressed in our determination to pursue peaceful resolutions to human conflict.
Today we are not taken in by the preaching of “The Glorious Dead” though we honour our countrymen. We are thankful that we have not been called to put our lives on the line in response to the failure of our politicians and leaders. We have known the longest period of peace in Europe perhaps there has ever been.
Nevertheless, we cannot but be conscious that the international arms industry is beating the drum for war. Its output of destructive materiel as seen at the recent DSEI Arms Fair in London (euphemistically Defence and Security International) should fill us with horror as we export weapons of destruction into conflict zones across the world.
Remembrance Sunday for me will be for honouring the dead, but it will be a time also for reflecting on our failure as a society to devote funding for peace studies, and for conflict resolution, in place of subsidising the arms industry through our taxes.
I shall be wearing a white poppy for peace as well as my red poppy for remembrance of Flanders Fields.
Photo: Rye News library
I comment as President of the Rye Royal British Legion and someone who has served on operations and lost comrades in action. This year the Royal British Legion is asking the nation to Rethink Remembrance by recognising the sacrifices made by the Armed Forces community, past and present. By contributing to the Poppy Appeal and wearing a red poppy, you aren’t just remembering the fallen: you’re supporting a new generation of veterans and Service personnel that need our support. Those who fell or have been seriously injured did so in our names and to enable us to exercise free speech and freedom of action including the abity to wear whatever symbols we choose.