We must Remember to Remember

One memory sticks in my mind about Remembrance Day and that is: Curry.

For some reason best known to army officers older than me, many regiments would hold a Curry Lunch after the annual remembrance service and what lunches they were. All the Regimental Silver was on display, all officers, wives, girlfriends and local big wigs were in attendance.  The chefs always laid on a great spread and we all enjoyed an afternoon of too much food and drink. And all on a Sunday too!

The memories that came close to the curry were of the parade, the need to be there on time and well turned out and the sense that we were looking back on great losses from wars that would never be repeated. The death total was beyond comprehension: 28,000 or more killed on the first day of the Somme for example. And it was all so far away. Even when we met old soldiers we could not quite understand what it was about. They often did not want to talk of the horrors of war but would only talk of the comradeship and missing mates.

But time moves on, and whilst I’m sure that there were many Curry Lunches last Sunday, the “age” has changed. Harry Patch, the last surviving soldier of World War 1 died earlier this year and with him went that close association with that savage era of tactical and strategic military lunacy. No longer do we see films of the trenches to remind us of the horrors of war. Yet the need to remember is still with us.

This last weekend was a period of sombre remembrance for me and I suspect many others. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but my tear ducts tell me that this year was different. Even the annual Festival of Remembrance was quite different this year to previous years. For a start there were fewer servicemen and women in attendance, busy elsewhere no doubt. There were no uplifting displays of service dog teams or naval rigging climbing that many will have seen in the past, instead we were remembering with, I think, some confusion. What had been so long in the past, is now part of our present. And that is not comfortable and we don’t yet know how to respond.

On Sunday morning the ceremonies around the nation; London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, with smaller parades in many towns. All with their own way of doing things, but all with one common aim: a sense of remembering. Some were remembering as they had done so for many years, certainly the Cenotaph was just as it always has been, but for some towns this was the first time in modern history that war and its consequences had come to their door. In Truro, the family of Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid were supported by thousands as they remembered a young man killed only a week before. And that support was expressed in a very modern way with less sobriety, less sombreness and a greater feeling of love and affection.

As time moves on, so will our need to remember. Whilst Remembrance Day will always hold a strong link to those who have been killed in the Great Wars, for many the need to remember is increasingly the need to remember those who have recently made the greatest sacrifice and also to remember those brave individuals who are continually at risk in theatres of war.

The mood of the nation is changing in regard to current operations. Many no longer feel that the risks of war are worthwhile. Deaths are not acceptable, especially when the reason is less than clear. The naming of individuals killed personalises the loss and makes us all feel bereaved. And we now ask “why?”

This will see us change the way we remember. But whatever we change or whatever we do, we must ensure that we never forget.