Christchurch Remembers

By blacksteff0

Thursday, November 12, 2009, 23:31

Today, Wednesday 11/11/09 at 11am The Last Post was sounded followed by a two minute silence.

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A relatively small, but sincere gathering of people stood at the entrance to the Quay, by the small memorial stone stood looking in deep reflection, during the two minutes silence.

Before the silence was broken by the sound of Reveille, I stood and wondered how many of these local people had been touched by war, past or current.

I remember seeing in the local newspaper recently, names of local lads and lasses who have been killed in recent times during the current conflicts and I was shocked with how many there were.

These certainly are uncertain times and that same old question keeps raising itself - "Should we be in this war, a war that really isn't ours?".

Whether you agree or disagree with our forces being "out there" there is only one thing that we can do and that is back them - you may not agree with our governments fight but those faceless troops, those ranks and numbers are actually someones child, someones parent, someones friend, someones husband or wife, someones lover . . We must never lose sight of the human side of war and its terrible long term effects on the injured and the berieved.

It sickened me to see on the news recently, the taunts and insults from mindless yobs, an injured soldier had to endure back here in England, whilst being pushed in his wheelchair through the streets. He had been caught in a roadside bomb in Afghanistan and lost both his legs in the blast. 

War is dehumanising enough. Let's not lose the compassion, support and respect that all our troops deserve.

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