What Does Remembrance Sunday Mean To You?
What does Remembrance Sunday mean to you? This year being the 90th Anniversary of the cessation of hostilities in the First World War, much has been made of the enormous, needless waste that was that utterly pointless war.
I consider myself fortunate in that both my grandfathers were combatants in the 1914-18 conflict and they both survived the war pretty much in one piece. My paternal grandfather didn't talk much about "The War" while my maternal grandfather would regale me with stories about his service at the least prompting. I suspect it was therapeutic for him, as I realise now how traumatic an experience it must have been for him.
Both my grandads lived to a ripe old age. They were taken from us by the usual kind of illnesses that old men succumb to in their twilight years, rather than by flying lead as youngsters - the fate that befell many of their generation.
My paternal grandfather sired five children in the late 1920s-30s, and those children between them produced eight grandchildren (including me) and nine great-grandchildren. That's twenty-two people who wouldn't have seen the light of day if anything had happened to him. Twenty million people died in the First World War. If each one of them had been as fruitful as Herbert Oates, that would be a population double that of the United States of America.
The more I learn about the First World War, the angrier Remembrance Sunday makes me. The inability of the Generals on both sides to adapt to modern warfare, the "white feather" campaign to shame non-combatants into joining up, the delay in the cessation of hostilities until the magic 11th hour deadline up to which men were still shooting at each other in spite of the peace accord being signed.
I loved my grandads and twenty-seven years since they died I still miss them both. I'm incensed by the thought that between 1914-18, the politicians and military leaders of this country and Germany placed both of these wonderful mens' lives at risk. You see the ranks of thousands of white gravestones in the military graveyards in France and Belgium, and you think every one of them had the potential to have families. Some of course left families behind, but so many like my grandads had families in their futures - futures they would never see.
If the First World War has any merit, it is in being proof that War is a complete and terrible, pointless waste. If anything is more depressing than that lesson, it's the realisation that we obviously haven't learned anything from it.
I consider myself fortunate in that both my grandfathers were combatants in the 1914-18 conflict and they both survived the war pretty much in one piece. My paternal grandfather didn't talk much about "The War" while my maternal grandfather would regale me with stories about his service at the least prompting. I suspect it was therapeutic for him, as I realise now how traumatic an experience it must have been for him.
Both my grandads lived to a ripe old age. They were taken from us by the usual kind of illnesses that old men succumb to in their twilight years, rather than by flying lead as youngsters - the fate that befell many of their generation.
My paternal grandfather sired five children in the late 1920s-30s, and those children between them produced eight grandchildren (including me) and nine great-grandchildren. That's twenty-two people who wouldn't have seen the light of day if anything had happened to him. Twenty million people died in the First World War. If each one of them had been as fruitful as Herbert Oates, that would be a population double that of the United States of America.
The more I learn about the First World War, the angrier Remembrance Sunday makes me. The inability of the Generals on both sides to adapt to modern warfare, the "white feather" campaign to shame non-combatants into joining up, the delay in the cessation of hostilities until the magic 11th hour deadline up to which men were still shooting at each other in spite of the peace accord being signed.
I loved my grandads and twenty-seven years since they died I still miss them both. I'm incensed by the thought that between 1914-18, the politicians and military leaders of this country and Germany placed both of these wonderful mens' lives at risk. You see the ranks of thousands of white gravestones in the military graveyards in France and Belgium, and you think every one of them had the potential to have families. Some of course left families behind, but so many like my grandads had families in their futures - futures they would never see.
If the First World War has any merit, it is in being proof that War is a complete and terrible, pointless waste. If anything is more depressing than that lesson, it's the realisation that we obviously haven't learned anything from it.
Your Opinions and Comments
I've never experienced combat and despite the fact that I could easily have if Op Granby hadn't been so devastating on the pre-offensive, I thank my lucky stars that I didn't and therefore don't have to live with the inevitable consequences of killing a fellow human being, albeit one who speaks a different language and has different values. I still remember our intial intel briefings stating that at least 2 out of 5 of us would probably not return due to the experience of Iraqi troops over the sustained period of the Iran/Iraq war. We all still willingly went when our country called though.
I've experienced grief through people I know dying, but mainly through accidents and no one too close thankfully. On the other hand, most soldiers will be slightly affected when a brother in arms falls - a lot of soldiers were killed during the Irish troubles. It's only slightly comforting as an ex-soldier to reflect on how Ireland has turned out when considering all those who died and whose killers are now walking free. Still, as a soldier you have to accept that you are following the instructions of the Government of the day and therefore can only trust that you are not only doing the right thing, but that our political leaders are too.
I understand your anger re. World War I, but I feel anger when I think about today's British Army whilst I just feel a sense of despair at the attitudes to war during 1914-1918. Today's Army is undermanned, poorly equipped and incredibly overstretched; involved in an illegal war and over-committed in theatres across the world. There will not be many modern soldiers who are unaffected by combat in one form or another. This is not to underestimate the sacrifice of those who fought sustained wars between 1914-18 or 1939-45, a 6 month tour is clearly different from 4 to 6 years of war, but their sacrifices are no less.
Soldiers have always fallen whilst in service of their country and always will (whatever form that takes in the future) and I for one reflect on the idea of honour and sacrifice whenever I hear the Last Post.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.