I am heading out shortly to Belmont to attend the Civic Act of Remembrance and the Remembrance Day Service. Following that I am going to a fundraising lunch for Help for Heroes.Whenever we reflect on those that have fallen, we cannot help consider the massive waste of life that war brings, not least the two World Wars when families, villages and towns were ripped apart. However, as General Sir David Richards has just said on the Andrew Marr Show, it is important to remember the achievements that our armed forces have made in various conflicts including those still underway. This is not to glorify war, but to rationalise and determine its place in the history of the world.
I have been on the edge of my seat watching and waiting for news of the release of Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, an inspirational lady who I have written about before and will again. Meanwhile, my uncle has sent me another part of the jigsaw of my family's history in Burma. Last year, he found records at the Rangoon Memorial of the death of my great-uncles Patrick and Terence. This year, he has found a poignant memorial placed in The Statesman newspaper in India on 25th June 1945 by my great-grandparents. I will dedicate my silence to them as well as those fallen in Afghanistan.
1 comment:
Dear Paul
Hallo, hallo, long time no see etc.
I too have interests in Burma in a funny sort of way! My maternal grandfather Wilfred Bevington fought alongside Jack (Bernard) Weatherill in Burma during the last war; Jack of course became The Speaker eventually. They both were in the King George V's Own Landers regiment, I think. Gran'pa Wilf didn't see my mother from the age of 3 till she was 9. VJ day was in Aug '45 but he got home very very thin, in Belmont in Jan '46 via a very slow ship! The food was usually a single meal of goat curry every day apparently!
Happy New Year to you Emma, Ben and Josie from your local councillor and his crew..!
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