As we approach the centenary of the end of WW1, there is much to distract, particularly with Brexit dominating the news.
1918 was a momentous year. There was the introduction of the Representation of the People Act enabling certain women over the age of 30 and men over 21 to vote in Parliamentary elections for the first time. There was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history: Spanish influenza, resulting in some 500 million people infected and up to 100 million deaths.
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In such a year, arguably the most significant event was Armistice 1918. At the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 the guns fell silent and so ended a four-year global conflict. In the almost one hundred years since, the Royal British Legion has championed the marking of Remembrance of those who not only fell in the Great War but have fallen since, serving the Crown and their fellow citizens.
This year there have been numerous national and regional Remembrance commemorative events, including art installations; an effort to recruit 1400 bell ringers (number lost in the First World War) to support a countrywide peal of bells on 11 November; a commemoration of the “Hundred Days Offensive” at a special ceremony at Amiens Cathedral; a muster of 1100 standards of the Royal British Legion at Ypres. The Rye standard was amongst them to replicate the Great Pilgrimage of veterans to Ypres in 1928.
In Rye on Sunday November 11 we will be remembering with a civic service that brings together our elected representatives, the Legion, civilian voluntary organisations, the youth organisations and the Churches.
As a veteran I will be remembering those who have served and fought; been injured or killed in wars and campaigns during and since the First World War. I am proud to play a part in a Legion that continues to honour the fallen and those seriously affected by war. This year, we will remember the sacrifice of the 800,000 soldiers who did not return in 1918, including the 144 named on the Rye Town Memorial. Both they and their families would expect no less of us.
Image Credits: Neal Easte , Anthony Kimber .