We Shall Remember Them.

I was watching a documentary about Pathe News which included war footage from British ships in the Mediterranean. My Father served on minesweepers, mostly in the Med, and as I watched the British ships being bombed by the Luftwaffe I realised that I knew virtually nothing about my Father’s war. He told me he hated dive-bombers, all I knew of his arctic convoy experience was, “When they issued us with woolen underwear I knew we weren’t going to the Med.” and I knew he failed to get into the Fleet Air Arm because he turned up to his flying test still tipsy from the night before. As I watched the old newsreel footage I realised that he just did not talk about the war, I don’t know why, but I suppose like many others he found it an experience of which he preferred not to be reminded.

I am of that generation born just after the war whose culture and society has largely moulded by the wars of the first half of the century and – coming from an East India trading family – the Empire they defended. Perhaps there is a glory in war, but it also leaves its scars not only in those who survived but in the society they bequeathed to their children. I was brought up in Yorkshire where whole towns lost a generation of young men in the Great War, they joined the army together, fought together and died together and their loved ones mourned together and grew old without them. In my youth I knew people who had fought in the Great War, one – my neighbour downstairs – was killed at Paschendale, not killed entirely, but his health was taken from him. Three days after a gas attack he was driving supplies to the front in a field tractor when it began to rain, the rain released the gas trapped in the soil and so he lived as an invalid for the next half century, his lungs burnt by the mustard gas. The scars of war are slow to heal.

We sometimes forget that there are no single casualties in war but every soldier killed or maimed or psychologically scarred shares his or her scars with a family, parents, spouse, children, all of whose lives are changed forever. I sometimes feel that politicians find war too convenient as an instrument of policy, and I have nothing but contempt for politicians like Tony Blair and George Bush senior who are happy to send other people’s children to their deaths while keeping their own sons safe at home (or possibly in the National Guard). I am saddened every time the news reports further casualties in Iraq or Afghanistan, I regret the death toll on both sides particularly collateral damage. “Collateral Damage” translates roughly as dead women and children killed by military carelessness. I am appalled that in this day and age we still so readily turn to violence to meet our foreign policy goals.

Armistice Day will soon be upon us. Although I am a pacifist I have bought a poppy, I may have contempt for the politicians who order wars, and I regret that so many young men and women have felt it necessary to take up arms and go to war. Why have I bought a poppy? Because however much I regret their going to war, I am proud that they went. I’m just ashamed that we have not yet managed to find a way to ensure they never have to go again.

Respect for heroes

I think for many people little wars like those happening Iraq and Afghanistan don’t really occur as wars, they think of major conflicts like the two World Wars and discount the little wars. The fact is no matter how big or small a war may be it requires of the participating soldier the same qualities.

To be quite frank I am a pacifist, I don’t approve of war, I don’t approve of violence. However there are many young men and women who don’t share my opinion, and who are putting their lives on the line in what they believe is the service of their country, these people are heroes. I think it is appalling when people who are prepared to, or have made the supreme sacrifice for their country are treated with abuse as we have seen in some demonstrations against the war. Even though we may disagree with them, even though we may oppose the war, the soldiers who go to fight are worthy of respect for their courage and their willingness to serve.

Amongst the heroes we must include the partners, children and families of those who serve. Those who bear tragic loss with dignity and those who turn their loss to righteous anger.

I believe that those who set booby trap bombs, IEDs and operate them by remote control are cowards and worthy of contempt, even more so those who use the mentally impaired as walking bombs. On the other hand there are those we would call “terrorists” who are also worthy of respect for their courage, those prepared to engage in fire-fights and those willing to blow themselves up for a cause, although such action when civilians are the target is utterly reprehensible.

Men of courage deserve to be respected for their courage, however much we may oppose what they stand for. The politicians who choose war as an instrument of politics, on the other hand are utterly worthy of contempt and the sooner we rid ourselves of them the sooner the heroes can enjoy a long and happy life with their families.