Why We Remember
It is eighty nine years since ‘the war to end all wars’ concluded with the disastrous peace settlement at Versailles. Only twenty years later, Europe was once again plunged back into a bloody conflict that eventually engulfed the world.
Watching the Remembrance Day memorial service in London this morning was like briefly glimpsing through a narrow window into the past. Solemn figures lined Whitehall around the Cenotaph as they have done every year for nearly a century; among them suited politicians, foreign diplomats, war veterans, monarchy (a seemingly declining phenomenon in modernity) and a sea of sombre faces reflecting upon past glories long since faded and the death of millions whose blood was poured down shell-holes till their veins ran dry.
While ever greater emphasis has been placed upon the catastrophic death toll and the brutality of past wars, of most significance was not necessarily the manner in which so many lives were lost; by bullet or incendiary bomb from on high, or by whizzing, pounding shells or the stuttering half-hearted clacker of the machine-gun that ripped flesh from limb and rendered life inanimate - but quite why so many people died on the battlefield, and for what cause.
It was for the most just and noble of reasons that millions gave their lives in the service of their country; in the pursuit of freedom from tyranny. Willingly or unwillingly it matters not, for they are heroes one and all – and their sacrifice will stand as stark testament to future generations of the price men paid for liberty.
Sadly, it was not to be. Despite a remarkable turnaround from a team that had been at an all-time low, England’s world cup dream was cruelly put to the sword at the Stade de France this evening by a triumphant South Africa.