Remembrance Day 2019
1914 - 1918
The War To End Wars
11th November, 1919 - Armistice Day
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month guns fell silent; peace was declared the war the end wars was over.
A hundred years ago today was the first Armistice Day. A hundred years later, the world has still not found peace.
There is much sadness and despair and pain and loss of hope in the world, we all suffer in one way or another, no one ever truly sails through life untouched by pain or hurt or injury, however large or small. However, maybe the greatness, deepest sadness of all is that we did not learn from WW1 nor from WW2; I wonder if we ever will? Somehow I doubt it.
Let us today more than ever remember just what all those who fought and gave their lives did for us - in all and every war. They and their sacrifice must never be forgotten. Nor must we forget those who fought and came home and carried and still carry the scars of war, death, destruction and loss of hope.
Thank you to all men and women who gave so much, who gave their tomorrows so that we could have our todays.
I Do Not Know Your Name
By Kenny Martin (2003).
I do not know your name, but I know you died
I do not know from where you came, but I know you died
Your uniform, branch of service, it matters not to me
Whether Volunteer or Conscript, or how it came to be
That politicians failures, or some power-mad ambition
Brought you too soon to your death, in the name of any nation
You saw, you felt, you knew full well, as friend and foe were taken
By bloody death, that your life too, was forfeit and forsaken
Yet on you went and fought and died, in your close and private hell
For Mate or Pal or Regiment and memories never to tell
It was for each other, through shot and shell, the madness you endured
Side by side, through wound and pain, and comradeship assured
No family ties, or bloodline link, could match that bond of friend
Who shared the horror and kept on going, at last until the end
We cannot know, we were not there, it's beyond our comprehension
To know the toll that battle brings, of resolute intention
To carry on, day by day, for all you loved and hoped for
To live in peace a happy life, away from bloody war
For far too many, no long life ahead, free of struggle and pain and the gun
And we must remember the price that was paid, by each and every one
Regardless of views, opinions aside, no matter how each of us sees it
They were there and I cannot forget, even though I did not live it
I do not know your name, but I know you died
I do not know from where you came, but I know you died.
My Father, who served in the navy in WW2, has on more than one occasion, concurred with the final two lines of verse four:
No family ties, or bloodline link, could match that bond of friend
Who shared the horror and kept on going, at last until the end
