Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day, in my younger times in England, was a major annual event, and still is.. It focuses on a pause for silence at 11am, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The silence is maintained to remember, respect and honour those service men and women who gave their lives in conflicts which had involved commonwealth forces. The major commemoration, still, is at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

There is a special appropriateness to it being in that place, because a cenotaph is a tomb-like monument to a person whose body is elsewhere (the word is formed from the Greek kenotaphion itself a combination of kenos (empty) and taphos (tomb). A cenotaph is therefore an empty tomb. At the Cenotaph in Whitehall there is a special recognition of those who fell in two world wars and whose bodies lie elsewhere. Today those who fell in other conflicts are included. We are grateful to and honour those who fell in the defence of our values, our way of life.

Today takes my mind easily to the great memorial wall at Paschendaele, and the Menin Gate at Ypres, places where I have been profoundly moved on a number of visits, places where many thousands of names of service men and women who have no known grave are recorded.

I am, however, thinking also of other brave men who wore no uniform in those wars but needed immense bravery to continue. They were the merchant seamen who risked their lives every time their vessels went to sea. During the Second World War especially, faced a silent enemy beneath the surface and knew that the worst could happen without warning. Their first knowledge of the presence of an enemy submarine was likely to be when their ship was hit. It sank quickly because a torpedo strikes below the water line.

On Tower Hill in London, there is a memorial to those of the Merchant Navy whose only known grave is the sea. Their courage in going back to sea, time after time, was immense, and I honour them today. Were I in London this morning, I would be at the Tower Hill Merchant Navy Memorial at 11am.

Australia also has a memorial to those merchant seamen who gave their lives on the hazards of the sea, great enough in peacetime, but much, much greater when enemy submarines wait, undetected below the surface, for their prey. In World War I,182 Australian merchant seamen lost their lives. In World War II, 386 merchant seamen paid the highest price. Were I in Canberra today, i would visit the Merchant Navy Memorial at 11am.

So today I am grateful for the many thousands upon thousands who fought to defend values I hold dear, those in the armed forces and those who, wearing no uniform, risked their lives on merchant ships in perilous waters.

Remembrance Day brings into sharp relief for me the words of Jesus of Nazareth, "Blessed are the peacemakers..."

My book, "Unpacking Italy: passions of a traveller", is not a history text, but I do mention Monte Casino, where one of the fiercest battles of the Second World War took place, last for many months. I have a particular interest in it because my father, serving in the Royal Artillery, was at Monte Casino.
I hope you enjoy reading the Casino section of the book.

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