Why Armistice Day is still important

The Queen led the two minutes silence at Westminster Abbey this morning on the first Armistice Day without any former soldiers of the Great War, the last remaining UK-based veterans having died during the past year.

I always make sure that I have somewhere quiet to go at 11 o'clock on the 11th November. Today I went and sat in a churchyard and was invited inside by some of the church stalwarts who had decided to have an impromptu two minutes silence and prayers. About a dozen of us clustered around a war memorial while someone read the eulogy, then we kept the silence and the vicar said a prayer. I'd never met any of the people before but they made me feel very welcome and gave me a cup of coffee and a biscuit afterwards.

One elderly member of the group said that she knew some of the names from the Second World War on the memorial. Her cousin is one of the men listed. It struck me that even those who knew the fallen of the two world wars are getting on in years now. To have known someone who fell in the First World War you would have to be in your nineties. To have similar memories of the Second World War you would have to be well into your sixties.

While the war memorials are, alas, being added to all the time, the proportion of the population with direct experience of war is diminishing rapidly. Thankfully, most of us don't know what war is like and haven't had to mourn the loss of a loved one. In 1918 and 1945 almost every family was a military family. Nowadays the fighting, and the grieving, is done by a select few.

Which is all the more reason to keep Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day as tributes to those who fell and to those who continue to risk their lives. During and immediately after the world wars, soldiers could take it as read that people were grateful for what they had done. These days the wars are messier, more complex and more controversial but, for the most part, regardless of their political opinions, most people appreciate the sacrifices made by the members of the armed forces.

It still helps to show it though. Just as husbands and wives need to say 'I love you' from time to time, once a year, by buying poppies, attending church services and parades and standing in silence at war memorials, we can show those in the armed forces that we havent forgotten them and that we are still grateful for the sacrifices they make.

 

Comments

[Esmerelda Weatherwax]

Yes. Well said.

[Of-Course]

"the proportion of the population with direct experience of war is diminishing rapidly" - yes because we've managed to export it along with the arms that we produce. There are so many people dying in wars all over the world. Fuck the red poppy nonsense, WAR MUST STOP!!!

[Jez]

Of-Course, don't be such an offensive twat. The vast majority of us who buy poppies would absolutely share your "war must stop" sentiment. You have completely misunderstood the point of the poppy and clearly haven't absorbed what PP is saying. The reason that "the proportion of the population with direct experience of war is diminishing" is...er...because they're getting old and dying. My dad gave up everything to go and do some amazing things in World War II. Most of his friends died doing the same thing. It is absolutely right that we remember them. It's nothing to do with war-mongering.

Do grow up.

[Greg. Tingey]

"War must stop"
OK, agreed.

BUT
We have people like:
Ahmenidjad, who is trying to start a war of extermination against Israel - how does one stop him?

The Taliban, who are waging a war against the whole of those nations that, in any degree, espouse "Enlightenement" values, and wil cheerfully kill anyone, and especially women, who appear to get in their path.
How do we stop them?

Hugo Chavez, who is deliberately trying to start a war between Columbia and Venezuala, so that no-one will notice his incompetence and corruption?
How is he to be stopped?

Etc. Ad nauseam .....

[skydog]

Of-course;''WAR MUST STOP!!!''

Great sentiment OC, but then the only reason you can say ''Fuck the red poppy nonsense'' is because people were prepared to go and put their lives on the line for you.

Pissed on any war memorials lately?

See you next Tuesday.

[Celia Toft]

I read with pride your comments on Rememberence Day and the significance of Poppies. Your Grandfather and Great Uncle Hugh, I am sure would be pleased to know that they are slill remembered. Your Grandfather never fully recovered from his wounds or repeated bouts of trench feaver but above all he never stopped missing his elder brother.
However at least they knew why they were fighting and what they were fighting for.
Mother