I was pleased to see that people are starting to think about the 100th anniversary of the First World War that began on 28th July 1914. I visited battle sites and war graves in France and Belgium with my children as I believe we should all be aware of what war really means.
I remember as a child sitting in chapel reading a simple memorial listing the names of men who had died in both wars and I remember the faces of their relatives. I also remember the memorials at schools and at places I worked.
In Pickering Church each Armistice Day they read out the names of those local men who died in wars serving our country. They remember them, as promised.
I believe that as a Nation we should speak aloud those names we see on our local memorials on Armistice Day 2014. Each school, workplace, village hall, and place of worship with a memorial, should plan to speak those names that in many places have not been spoken for years.
Those days of Empire are long gone but it would be wonderful if former colonies and dominions joined in to read out and remember the dead in their local communities too.
“We will remember them.”
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