Remembrance, is it a Bandwagon?

There is something not right about the nations 'remembrance' today.  A few years ago the UK had almost, but not quite, forgotten how to remember the war dead.  Today it is in danger of exploiting them!

Remembrance began after the 1914-1918 war ended.  With the armistice in November 11th the world attempted to return to normal, no matter how impossible that could be.  With over 300,000 men missing somewhere under the soil of France and Flanders, Mesopotamia, Salonika, Gallipoli, Africa, and of course so many lost at sea, relatives were desperate for a place to mourn, to remember their dead.  The Cenotaph, the empty coffin at the top of the memorial, stood for those who's bodies were never recovered.  Millions responded to this.  Towns and villages, churches, offices, factories, railways stations and clubs placed their own memorials to their lost and each year paid tribute, with many doing so knowing the truth of the sacrifices that had been made.

Following the 39-45 war the nation continued to remember, but wished to create a new world and move on from constant war and deprivation, deprivation that was the lot of the majority in previous years.  By the sixties when my generation were pretending to be Hippies and find a new way to live life, Peace, Love and 'Make love nor war,' which was more, 'Make tea not war' in reality, people at that time did not want to remember the war or encourage uniformed military society.  This was not to denigrate the sacrifices made, we knew all about those, but young folks look to the future not the past, new happenings were, er, happening.  It was later we realised human nature does not change, life as it always was continues.

The need for an army returned during the Irish 'troubles.'  While army requirements had lessened during the end of Empire, conscription's last intake being 1959, the tendency to ignore military matters ended when troops were placed on Irish streets.  Several years of murder and mayhem did not attract the nation to uniforms, we really did not want to know about those murderous Irish who used religion as a shield for their political malevolence.  However soldiers did gain some respect for their courage and in 1982 the Thatcher inspired jingoism (mostly English it must be said) that erupted during the Falklands dispute gave a degree of respectability to men in uniform once again.  Relatives if those killed in Ireland were noted at memorials, more took note of the following memorial services after 1982.  The Gulf conflict in late 1990 and fear of Arab terrorism, the second (needless) Gulf War and of course Afghanistan brought the requirements of the servicemen to the nations conscience more deeply.  A rise since the early eighties in the study of the Great War itself helped a new generation to appreciate what those men had gone through. The aftermath of the second world war hiding the sufferings of the first a great deal.

Today it is both popular and it appears almost compulsory once again to wear a poppy and remember the war.   TV stations will not allow any individual to appear without one, thereby debasing the thing entirely, and a rise of talk, discussion and forced remembrance is leading us not to 'remember' but to remember in a false manner.  Many rightly recall their fallen friends, especially those of recent years, but there is an underlying falseness creeping in of which we must be wary.  

I am all for remembering the dead of all wars and on all sides.  However the present attitude is in danger of becoming a passing fashion.  This makes it obligatory to 'remember,' and leads once the emotional side has passed to a wearing off of remembrance and a falling away from the whole thing.  

We need to remember, I do not wish the dead or their struggles to be forgotten, but we must remember correctly and for the proper reasons.  Otherwise it will all once more fade away like an old soldier, and we don't want that. 

   

Ancient Rural Scene

As my bike and I shook and clattered along the ageing path I stopped to cogitate on the farm in the distance.  I wondered how long folk had farmed this land?  Certainly there was a Celt Iron Age settlement around here somewhere when the Romans brought us roads, wine, revolting Boudicca and failed to take Scotland.  Interestingly enough Tacitus wrote of his father in law who was governor here twice in the 70's and 80's.  That's first century by the way!  His name Agricola, as in Farmer!  Good job his dad was into growing things and not a plumber.  Not that Agricola did much in the way of farming, unless you call dealing with rebellious Celts a kind of reaping.  Hunter gatherers from the distant past were in Essex 8000 BC and by 2000 BC some had become resident in the district.  It is possible the trees which covered the area were cleared soon after this time I guess and so for around three thousand years this area has provided fodder for the people in one way or another.  Not long when you consider Iraq has been doing the same for about ten thousand years but I find this strangely fascinating.  Not so the farmer who rushed past me in his Japanese 4x4 leaving the dust to settle on my almost clean bike.  I blame the EU!

That church has stood there for between 800 and a 1000 years also.  It may sit on a Roman cemetery, which may sit on a Celt one, and the Saxons may even have built the first church around 600ish there, or not as the case may be.  So rarely do i see this view it took me by surprise.

I also came upon this poppy sitting almost alone among greenery in a siding.  These excellent bright plants appear almost everywhere at this time of year.  The colour stands out and as they are found everywhere, and probably unstoppable at that, I suspect they will be around for a very long time.  I wonder if some Afghan will go around and make some money out of them in a wee while....? 

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Christmas Market

I discovered this afternoon a Christmas Market was under way.  This has occurred a few times in recent years and stalls from France and elsewhere usually predominate.  Clothes, hats, trivia, and far too many fast food (healthy well made foods) on show.  For some the stalls offer gifts for Xmas, for me they appear overpriced.  They must make money however as many appear to have been here before.  The simple idea of blocking the High Street, only buses use this in theory, allows folks to parade back and forwards.  Sadly a stall at the far end has a stand for some sort of performance so I expect loud, bad, music to be heard tomorrow afternoon.  I looked at the bread stalls (£2:70 - £4:00 a loaf!!!) and fancied some of those on offer but managed to restrain my hunger.  A good selection but prices that those who call themselves poor appear able to pay!

In the shopping centre itself the British Legion stand, with resplendent lorry on show, brought the remembrance services on Sunday to peoples mind.  Since the 1920's the Poppy has been the UK symbol of remembrance and the Legion makes millions for sale throughout the land to raise money to aid ex-servicemen.  It always get a huge response.  This year Armistice day, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, falls on the Sunday itself.  Throughout the country people will gather at local memorials to remember the fallen.

Remembrance Day    Royal British Legion   Poppy Scotland    

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Poppy Wearing

I begin to worry about those who wear the 'Poppy.  This small plastic emblem is worn throughout the UK as an act of remembrance for those who fell while serving with the armed services.  This covers two major wars and those many smaller yet violent conflicts of recent years, any serviceman wherever he fell. Money collected goes towards the Royal British Legion to support ex-servicemen. However I worry about the pressure that hangs around the nation concerning the wearing of this emblem.


The poppy was the brainchild of an American lass called Moina Michael while working for the YMCA in New York.  She had read John McCrae's poem 'In Flanders Fields' and was inspired by the line 'We shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders Fields.'  Poppies of course were abundant in the battlefields of France and Flanders.  They grow easily and the blood red colour stood out among the often brown dreary landscape all around. She was inspired to do something to remember the fallen and when gifted $10 she decided to buy poppies with the money. Those whom she worked amongst, many servicemen about to leave for France, were delighted with the poppy idea and wanted to buy them from her as an act of remembrance, and all this on the 9th of November, two days before the Armistice came into force. For the next year or two Moina attempted to get the poppy adopted by the USA but few were interested. Eventually the American Legion adopted the poppy in 1920.  A fellow YMCA worker, a Frenchwoman called Anna Guerin took the idea to France with the intention of raising funds for children and others bereft after the war.  Soon she and Moina took the poppy to London and Moina convinced Earl Haig, the President of the British Legion, that the poppy could be used to raise funds for ex-servicemen. The first red poppies were sold for remembrance day 1921 in the UK. In 1922 a small factory employing five men was established to make poppies, by the early thirties the factory was in large premises in  Richmond and today produces 40 million a year!  Lady Haig opened a similar factory in Edinburgh, Haigs birthplace, in 1926 and employed ex-servicemen making poppies.  They produce four million a year from her factory. The symbol spread to most nations involved in the Great War.      


During the fifties the memory of the second world war was still strong and it was natural for the nation to come to a standstill for two minutes on Remembrance Sunday and attend memorial services at war memorials up and down the land. By the sixties we young folks were less interested in war.  Anything military was to be opposed rather than stressed and the 'spirit of the air' led us into 'making love not war,' even though there was more tea made near me I must say.  The nation rebelled against uniforms and discipline and became free in many good ways and it took a couple of decades before we began to realise that 'discipline' and armed services were not dirty words. The British army endured much during the Irish troubles, and an appreciation of the army began to grow.  With the Falklands Conflict, and the historically inaccurate 'patriotism' engendered by Thatcher again an appreciation of the worth and ability of the British armed Services grew.  With two Iraq adventures, Afghanistan and not forgetting Bosnia and Liberia, and the sight of dead soldiers coming home the poppy has once more come into its own.


Those of us who have read a great deal about war can be pleased to see such men are not forgotten by their nation, I however fear that now this has tipped over and pressure is on one and all to 'join in and remember,'   and those who defer are seen as enemies. One place where this attitude can be seen is in Edinburgh with the Heart of Midlothian football team. In November 1914, when volunteering for the army was slackening and an outcry regarding 'young men playing sport while the Hun is at hand' was reaching a crescendo many players of this club enlisted in Sir George McLean's 16th Battalion of the Royal Scots. Those crying had ignored other players who were already serving as reservists or members of the Territorial Army.  Seven of these men did not return, others were severely injured and never played again. A memorial to them was erected in Edinburgh's Haymarket and a service of remembrance is held there each year. Since Jack Alexanders excellent book, 'McCrae's Battalion' was published a few years ago an upsurge in remembrance has affected the fans of this club. Many contributed to a memorial built at Contalmaison in France, buy replica remembrance shirts, and attend the memorial.  However I am well aware that a great many would be much less keen had our local rivals been the team involved.  Their support is for their football team rather than for the men who served.  McCrae's was of course built on the Hearts players but the majority were members of the public and as such the battalion is an Edinburgh Battalion, not a Hearts one, and many refuse to accept this. 


On television it is impossible to note any live broadcast where each person wears a poppy. TV stations will pin them on and few have the courage to refuse. This however is not the freedom men died for is it? A recent fuss regarding wearing poppies on international football team shirts has hit the headlines. FIFA, the ruling body, refuses any political, religious discriminatory message on such shirts and saw the poppy as political.  It can be seen this way but today represents remembrance for most of us, and remembrance of all war dead, even the enemies.  The Prime Minister had his PR stunt in parliament claiming this ' a disgrace,' the media shouted and hollered, and Prince William (who?) has contacted FIFA to object. Now players from Scotland, Wales and England will wear black armbands with poppies emblazoned upon them to mark their respects at this weekend games. I wonder still about the reasons they are worn.  Many indeed respect the memory today, tomorrow much of the nation will come to a standstill at eleven o' clock on the morning of the eleventh month for two minutes, in shops, factories and in offices throughout the land, most will respect the moment some will not. Too many on TV and the football field follow public pressure and wear these emblems.  Too few really comprehend the deeper meaning.  The day after remembrance Sunday it will all be forgotten for another year!  Not so for servicemen who have lost limbs in Afghanistan, or Iraq, or Northern Ireland, Aden, Cyprus, Israel, or who have suffered dreams and terrors since 1945, for such the war has never ended. They and their relatives live with the effects each day. Let us not forget them, whether friend or foe, for it is those who have endured war who most often oppose it.  Remembrance helps us to prevent wars, let us not 'remember' just because we are told to do so.  

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

The Great War 14-18

The Story of the Remembrance Poppy

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Rmember

Aerospaceweb

Remember if you will the men of Great Britain's fledgling air force who flew across the short distance from Dover to Boulogne and on deep into France.  Initially some 60 machines entered service, many of them frail Avro 504's pictured above, and began work observing enemy maneuvers.  This was not always appreciated.  As the British second Corps made its way to the small mining town of Mons the pilot of one such aircraft stopped to inform Field Marshall John French, head of the British force, of the vast numbers of German infantry approaching. He was not believed!  Instead French wished to discuss his aircraft with him and refused to accept his news.  He soon realised his mistake.  The British II Corps numbered around 40,000 men, the Germany army approaching numbered around 600,000.  The defence of the canal above Mons was a resounding success and after a days hard fighting the enemy was stopped in his tracks with vast casualties and the 'contemptible little army' was considering advancing to chase them back home.  However to their right the French army had also met a complete, and efficient, German foe and began to withdraw, with the French 'not bothering' to inform the British of their intentions. Aircraft spotted not only the French withdrawal but also a third army marching around the left flank.  Thus began the famous long 'retreat to the Marne' in hot summer weather. Had those slow Royal Flying Corps surveillance aircraft not flown over Mons half the British army could have been engulfed! 

From observation these aircraft turned to photography, and fighting and then bombing.  Each few months saw advances in the power and killing properties of the machines, and while they flew higher and higher the comfort of the pilots was of no consideration. No parachutes meant a fire at 16,000 feet led to certain death, survival meant lack of oxygen affected the pilots abilities, cold cut deep into them, the stress of war led to mistakes and accidents, and the average life expectancy was around three weeks!  These early young men, rarely above their early twenties, often failing to reach twenty years of age before their death, were the beginning of the air force which today uses the Typhoon fighter, a plane so powerful that computers are required to enable the pilot to control the plane, no human brain can cope!  

Remember these men.     

Royal Flying Corps

Lady Haigs Poppy Factory

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