We shall remember them ........

"When you go home tell them of us and say: for your tomorrow we gave our today." The Kohima Epitaph, so few words yet words that say so much. At eleven o'clock as the chimes of Big Ben ring out across the land, the world falls silent. On this day we remember, as one, the sacrifice made by so many, a sacrifice that continues to this very day and will continue well into the future. Young men full of hopes and dreams, their journey through life just beginning, only to be tragically cut short fighting for their country, for freedom and for the right to live life without torture, without imprisonment and without oppression. As we stand, heads bowed in silence, all around is still. For a brief moment the traffic pauses, conversation lies resting upon the lips, the hustle and bustle of everyday life ceases. The only sounds to be heard are birds singing in the trees, the gentle cry of a baby too young to understand, the barking of a dog in some distant garden. Each year we give two minutes of our time to remember, two minutes from our lives to remember those who no longer have two minutes to give. Pain is etched on the faces of the veterans, a pain we cannot understand nor begin to feel. Tears trickle from eyes that have witnessed the horror of war, a horror no man should have to behold, a horror no man, or indeed woman, should have to live through. So many friends lost, so many families torn apart, and yet it continues. The blood of our young people is shed on foreign soil, the grief goes on, the list of the fallen grows ever longer. And every year wreaths of poppies will adorn our memorials, standards will be lowered, prayers will be offered up ... and the list of conflicts will increase. Memories stay with us, however sad, however hard to bear, hearts will be broken time and again as they have since time began. A letter, a photo, a medal are all that remain to keep these memories alive ...... but keep them we must. The past paves the way for the future, but this path may not always be easy to follow.
Every November, in towns, villages and cities across the country, we remember in our own way. We gather at war memorials, in churches, in Gardens of Remembrance, each one of us touched in some way by the sacrifice of so many men and women. Look upon the Field of Remembrance in the heart of Edinburgh, cast your eyes upon the simple crosses, each with a poppy in its centre, laid out in row after row. There are around 11,000 symbols of remembrance here, dedicated by members of the public in honour of past and present members of the Armed Forces. Such an unique display of both individual and community remembrance, every cross bears a personal hand-written message, a regiment, maybe a photo. So many crosses, so many poppies, yet this is just a drop in the ocean, just a handful of names in a rollcall of millions. Leaves freshly fallen from the trees lie amongst these memorials to those fallen in battle. Yet unlike the leaves lying on the ground, leaves that have lived out their natural lives to return again in spring, those named upon the crosses will never live out their natural lives, will never see another spring.
Why, you may wonder, after two World Wars, do we continue to destroy so many lives, devastate many others and bring death to countless innocent men, women and children. Will it ever end? Will lessons never be learnt, will our leaders never listen. How many conflicts have vented their fury upon the earth since 1945? Korea, Suez, the Falkland Islands, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan to name but a few ........ From every corner of the globe the futility of war tears the world apart. Those who died in the Great Wars died to protect our freedom, to allow us to live our lives in peace and harmony. Is it not time we began to respect their memory, respect the ultimate sacrifice they made for their country, by making war a thing of the past. It will not be easy, it will never be easy, we may never achieve peace in our lifetime, but we owe it to these brave men and women to try. Their lives should not be lost in vain, yet lives will continue to be lost, we shall continue to mourn ...... I shall leave you with some of the most poignant words to be uttered throughout these days of remembrance, words written by a gentleman called Laurence Binyon, a Red Cross medical orderly on the Western Front, taken from his poem "The Fallen."

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We shall remember them."