8th November 2013 Washington DC, USA
What Remembrance Day means to me
The following is a guest blog from Major James Knight from the Royal Marines. Major Knight works in the British Embassy as the staff officer to the Royal Marines Attaché. James has been in the Marines for 11 years and his career has seen him deploy to Iraq, Afghanistan and various ship deployments around the globe.
When I was younger Remembrance Day to me was an opportunity to see all the different services of the armed forces on display. I knew this day was to remember the fallen but to my mind I was recognizing the efforts of those that had fallen during WWI & II.
My Gran, who lived through WWII, spoke of the bombing raids over her home town of Liverpool and how food was rationed. She had known some of the hardships of war and faced them with a determination and resilience akin to soldiers on the frontline. Her father, my Great Grandfather (whom I never knew), signed up for the Army during the First World War at the age of 40. He was involved in Ypres and the Battle of the Somme. When he returned from the War he never spoke of what he had seen or experienced. It wasn’t until some years later when he heard a broadcast on the radio announcing that a memorial had been erected at Ypres to commemorate the fallen of that battle, he simply sat down and began to cry. That was the only time his children ever saw him react in that way.
I will never know what he went through and can only imagine the immense sacrifice people made during that conflict. So as a boy I always thought that Remembrance Day was there to remind us of WWI and II. A lot of the time my thoughts were with my Gran who had experienced the consequences of the war and was faced with a daily reminder of the hardships of others.
Years later and for someone who is now serving in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces, Remembrance Day means something very different to me. These days when you walk in the streets at home you would be forgiven for not knowing that we are a country at war. Our daily lives are not affected by the war and business continues as normal. If you are to pick up a newspaper you would have to dig deep to find an article reporting on the recent events in Afghanistan. Towns and cities are not adorned with posters of propaganda and windows and doorways are not barricaded with sandbags.
As someone who is fortunate to be working in Washington DC, and gets the opportunity to work alongside the US Armed Forces, I have seen firsthand the high regard in which the American public hold their veterans. As we reflect on Remembrance Day this weekend, Americans will be observing Veterans Day. Both the UK and the US take great pride and effort in marking these days and I feel honoured to have experienced from both perspectives.
Today when we mark Remembrance Day I think of two things; firstly the men and women serving in a country where they face great danger on a daily basis in a country far removed from our own. Secondly, I remember the families of those who have lost a loved one. I can’t help but think that they must feel quite lonely as they come to terms with the loss, and at the same time walk in a society that on the face of it does not show the signs of being at war. Remembrance Day is one day where we can remind ourselves of the hardships that others before us have gone through and of the struggles that so many will continue to experience.
For me, if there is one phrase that says it all it is the Kohima Epitaph: ‘When you go home, tell them of us and say for their tomorrow we gave our today’