Lest we forget

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They shall grow not 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 will remember them

www.britishlegion.org.uk

1914-1918

Wearing the poppy

Poppies at Woodhorn Colliery museum in Northumberland in 2015
 

I Am Not A Badge Of Honour

Paul Hunter ♦ Benton, Newcastle upon Tyne ♦ 2014

I am not a badge of honour,

I am not a racist smear,

I am not a fashion statement,

To be worn but once a year,

I am not glorification
Of conflict or of war.
I am not a paper ornament
A token,
I am more.

I am a loving memory,
Of a father or a son,
A permanent reminder
Of each and every one.

I'm paper or enamel
I'm old or shining new,
I'm a way of saying thank you,
To every one of you.

I am a simple poppy
A Reminder to you all,
That courage faith and honour,
Will stand where heroes fall.

Royal British Legion Website - Facebook - Twitter

And the band played Waltzing Matilda

GALLIPOLI was one of the greatest military failures of all time - and a nation-defining moment for Australia and New Zealand.

Devised by First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, and others within the British government, its intention was to break the horrific stalemate on the Western Front by launching a second line of attack against Germany's ally, the Ottoman Empire.

Instead, the eight-month campaign contrived to be fought in even worse conditions than Flanders as the allies lost heavily and the corpses piled up to rot on the beach.

Altogether, over 100,000 on both sides were killed. The Turkish, while strategically victorious, lost 56,643 lives, the British lost 34,072, and the French lost 9,798.

But Australia (8,709 deaths) and New Zealand (2,721 deaths) were disproportionally affected.

And so, while the British especially mourn losses at the Somme and the French do likewise with regards to Verdun, Australians and New Zealanders will never forget Gallipoli.

Now, in much the same way as 11 November allows for reflection in this country, Aussies and Kiwis commemorate the loss of servicemen from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps on 25 April.

It is a public holiday in both countries known as ANZAC Day - and this year's memorial service was particularly poignant given it marked 100 years since the fateful battle began.

Rewinding back to 1915, the assault on the appropriately-named Cape Helles went wrong pretty much straightaway.

The allied troops were ill-prepared whereas the Turks had primed themselves well, having fully anticipated the invasion.

The hellish scene is described by Scottish-born, Australian-based folk singer Eric Bogle in his song, And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.

Most notably covered by the Pogues on their 1985 album Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, Shane MacGowan spits out the lyrics in bitterness and disgust at the apparent cheapness of human life.

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away

Shock was indeed the overriding emotion in Australia and New Zealand as the two emerging nation states suffered a baptism of fire.

In Britain too, Gallipoli had major after-effects, not least on Churchill who was forced out of government.

The ruling Liberals were forced into coalition with the Conservatives and, soon after the war, lost power altogether, being consigned into opposition until the current coalition was formed in 2010.

Churchill, meanwhile, recovered his reputation a little by serving in the trenches of the Western Front. He would, of course, recover it fully 20 years later.

For the thousands of dead at Gallipoli, however, there was no time to recover.

World War One was less than a year old - but, with the fateful Race to the Sea and the subsequent failure of Gallipoli, it had already cost too many lives.

The concept of a Lost Generation had become a reality. RIP.

Lest we forget

AN EXCERPT from An Utterly Impartial History of Britain (or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge) by John O'Farrell.

The excerpt begins with a fictionalised conversation between an officer and his general:

'Message from reconnaissance, sir. The Germans are digging a trench.'
'A what?'
'A trench. You know, like a long hole in the ground, big enough for them all to take cover. Oh, and they've put a machine gun on the top.'
'OK. Well, why don't we dig one of those, and then we'll just take it from there.'

The Germans had made the discovery that became the key to the First World War: that the combination of trench and machine gun created a barrier that was even harder to get past than a GP's receptionist. The solution was simple; just go round the side. 
But then they build another trench. When the Germans attempted a counter-attack, the British and French built trenches too and then tried to bypass the Germans and thus occurred the so-called "race to the sea", during which each side repeatedly attempted to outflank the other until there was a line of trenches all the way from Switzerland to the English Channel.

'So now what do we do?'
'Er, hang on, let me read the orders from HQ... ah, here we are: we are all to "sit here for three-and-a-half years firing shells at each other until millions of people have died".'
'Well thank God our commanders know what they're doing.'

It is really quite difficult to extract any sort of humour from a conflict which would go on to kill 16 million people - but O'Farrell does well in these few paragraphs to highlight the sheer ridiculousness of the First World War.

By November 1914, 100 years ago, the early German offensive had failed and the Race to the Sea had finished. Trenches did indeed stretch from Switzerland to the North Sea across 400 miles of land, and casualties were already in their hundreds of thousands.

There was nowhere to go and the war should have ended there and then as a horrible idea, with questions asked as to whether it should have even started at all.

Instead, incredibly, the industrial-scale carnage continued hopelessly for another four years. By the end of it, nine million soldiers and seven millions civilians had died.

The poppy soon became a symbol to represent the lives which had been lost, its red hue having somehow sprung from the blood-scorched earth in the days after the guns fell silent.

It is in this way then that, while the poppy commemorates the dead, it also acts as a symbol of the promise of life and peace prevailing.

But, sadly, as present day conflicts rumble on around the world, it is a lesson which humankind is yet to heed.

And this is why we must revisit the Armistice each year in the hope that there will eventually be an end to war.

Lest we forget what that poppy is actually for.

A field for the Fallen

THOUSANDS of little wooden crosses all lined up, each carrying a poppy and adorned with a message clearly mattering to someone.

The Field of Remembrance at Saltwell Park in Gateshead is back following its successful introduction last year.

Situated near Saltwell Towers, the grand Victorian mansion, the memorial was opened on Saturday 2 November with a service led by The Reverend James Breslin, Chaplain to the Royal British Legion in Northumbria. A two-minute silence was held at 11am.

Yesterday, of course, was Remembrance Sunday and, in keeping with tradition, the Queen was joined by thousands of veterans and civilians at the Cenotaph in London for a further two-minute silence to remember fallen service personnel.

And today, on Armistice Day itself, I paid my own respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for Britain with a visit to the impressive sea of crosses and poppies at Saltwell.

The Field of Remembrance only came about following a campaign by north east newspaper, the Sunday Sun, and the family of Tyneside Rifleman Mark Turner.

Aged just 21, Rifleman Turner, from Sheriff Hill in Gateshead, was killed in 2010 by an improvised explosive device as he searched for roadside bombs in Helmand Province in Afghanistan.

Ever since, his mother Anne has worked tirelessly on creating a place where loved ones could pay tribute to absent family members and friends. Plans on creating a permanent garden are still ongoing.
 
For now, visitors have until dusk on 15 November to see the temporary arrangement. 

And the sun was indeed setting on another crisp winter day as I knelt down and planted my little wooden cross into the earth.

But, before the cloak of darkness could once again fall across Tyneside, I read one last message which featured the words of Laurence Binyon from his commemorative poem, For the Fallen.

Originally published in the Times in September 1914, it included Binyon's famous Ode of Remembrance: "Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them."

• Donations to the Royal British Legion can be made on their website here.

11/11/11: Remembrance Day, lest we forget

THE FINAL INSPECTION

Sgt Joshua Helterbran
---

The soldier stood and faced God,

Which must always come to pass.

He hoped his shoes were shining,

Just as brightly as his brass.
*

'Step forward now, you soldier,

How shall I deal with you ?

Have you always turned the other cheek ?

To My Church have you been true?'
*

The soldier squared his shoulders and said,

'No, Lord, I guess I ain't.

Because those of us who carry guns,

Can't always be a saint.
*

'I've had to work most Sundays,

And at times my talk was tough.

And sometimes I've been violent,

Because the world is awfully rough.
*

'But, I never took a penny,

That wasn't mine to keep...

Though I worked a lot of overtime,

When the bills got just too steep.
*

'And I never passed a cry for help,

Though at times I shook with fear.

And sometimes, God, forgive me,

I've wept unmanly tears.
*

'I know I don't deserve a place,

Among the people here.

They never wanted me around,

Except to calm their fears.
*

'If you've a place for me here, Lord,

It needn't be so grand.

I never expected or had too much,

But if you don't, I'll understand.'
*

There was a silence all around the throne,

Where the saints had often trod.

As the soldier waited quietly,

For the judgment of his God.
*

'Step forward now, you soldier,

You've borne your burdens well.

Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,

You've done your time in Hell.'

• Donate to the Royal British Legion (1921-2011), the charity which organises the Poppy Appeal, here.

FIFA were wrong in poppy wrangle

FIFA took their time but eventually performed a U-turn to allow England players to wear poppies on their black armbands during the friendly with Spain at Wembley on Saturday.

But the climbdown only came after Duke of Cambridge Prince William and Prime Minister David Cameron had written to FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Earlier Mr Cameron had branded the original decision of an outright ban on poppies as "outrageous", and he added: "The idea that wearing a poppy to remember those who have given their lives for our freedom is a political act is absurd.

"Wearing a poppy is an act of huge respect and national pride."

FIFA had stated, by way of explanation, that the ban on poppies had to be enforced as "such initiatives would open the door to similar initiatives from all over the world, jeopardising the neutrality of football".

However, Blatter's organisation has failed to realise that, despite the intervention of Mr Cameron, the poppy itself is not a political or religious symbol at all. It simply serves to commemorate those who sacrificed their lives in war for their country.

Jon Snow, the Channel 4 news presenter, famously refuses to wear a poppy (or indeed any symbol which may represent his views) on screen, condemning what he calls "poppy fascism".

Mr Snow added: "In the end, there really must be more important things in life than whether a news presenter wears symbols on his lapels."

But that is not the issue here, either, as the England players were more than happy to have a poppy embroidered on their shirt.

That was certainly the case for Arsenal youngster Jack Wilshere who tweeted: "My great-grandad fought for this country in WW2 and I'm sure a lot of people's grandparents did.

"[The] England team should wear poppies on Saturday. It's the nation's tradition and it would be disrespectful not to."

Indeed, the only extremism seemed to come from FIFA, the organisation with a president dictator who has famously been reelected unopposed on the last two occasions.

Meanwhile, the Royal British Legion expressed their disappointment at the original stance. George Batt, the general secretary of the Normandy Veterans' Associated, described the decision as "disgraceful".

Mr Batt added: "I'm lost for words. I can't see any harm in wearing a poppy. It's so sad.You surely don't need rules and regulations in Fifa like this?"

It is little wonder the soldiers were bemused and upset. They know that 90 minutes of exposure from England's top footballers would do much to help a good cause which celebrated its 90th birthday this year.

Of course, the row brought the usual measured response from the right-wing press and, even in supporting the cause, the Daily Mail slipped up.

First, the newspaper inexplicably pinned the blame for the poppy ban on the Germans before making a U-turn of its own.

But it is FIFA's change of heart which is more telling as the organisation gradually realised it was on the wrong side of the argument once again.

Indeed, as row escalated, the governing body went from banning poppies altogether to allowing black armbands to allowing poppies on the black armbands.

Nevertheless, the poppies will still not be on the shirts and so it could be argued that Blatter and co have still not nearly gone far enough.

Lest we forget the Fallen

(Music: Nimrod, variation no.9 from Enigma Variations by Sir Edward Elgar)

For the Fallen

Laurence Binyon

1914

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not 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 will remember them.

They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

The Royal British Legion 2010: Silence is golden
As part of this year's Poppy Appeal, the Royal British Legion have released a single '2 Minute Silence' into the UK charts.

The aim is to get the silent single to the number one spot in the Official UK Chart on Remembrance Sunday 14th November.

All of the proceeds from the single will go towards furthering our work in supporting serving and ex-Service personnel and their families.

It can be ordered at http://www.silentsingle.com/ or downloaded from iTunes *here* for just £1.

Lest we forget

In Flanders’ Fields

In Flanders’ Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders’ Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders’ Fields.

Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872-1918), Canadian physician and soldier in WWI.