Lest we forget...

Remembrance Sunday. It is one of our more sombre traditions, observed on or about the 11th of November.  The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, a moment in history that shall not soon be forgotten.  It was the moment of the Armistice, when a ceasefire was officially declared, which effectively and symbolically saw the end of the first World War, one of the most brutal and horrific conflicts in humanity's history.

The field of battle

At this time of year, at 11:00 on the nearest Sunday to the 11th of November, people observe a moment's silence, in remembrance of those who died in the service of their country during the two World Wars. Thousands of men and women who fought on the mud-plagued battlefields and waterlogged trenches of the front lines of Europe, and gave their lives defending their nation.

It's never, ever, that simple.  Aside from the legal and official side of things - different nations ratified peace at different times and for different conditions, months after the Armistice began - there was the more personal aspect.  Soldiers died for the cause both sides were propagating.  And every single soldier was somebody's son or daughter, or someone's mother or father, brother or sister, husband or wife, friend, neighbour.

And it wasn't just soldiers.  Civilians lost their lives too.  Men, women and children who had neither part or place in the war, were killed by the enemy, and sometimes by friendly fire.  Families of soldiers and civilians alike were left devastated by the loss of a loved one. In some families entire generations were wiped out. Fathers and sons killed side by side in battle.  Homes destroyed. Towns devastated.

And this happened on both sides of the battlefield.  German families, towns and communities were damaged in the wars too.  Russia perhaps suffered the most losses of the entire Second World War.  Two cities in Japan were virtually wiped out by, to date, the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare.  The world as a whole was irrevocably changed by possibly the most devastating wars in human history.  Nobody escaped unscathed.

A moment's peace: Allied and German troops together during
the Christmas Truce of 1914. Picture taken from the Daily Mirror

Yet even in time of war, there is still hope.  This is best exemplified by the Christmas Truce, a series of unofficial ceasefires over the Christmas period of 1914.  During this time, at numerous locations, soldiers on both sides of the conflict put down their guns and walked into No Man's Land.  Instead of fighting, they met, shook hands, and exchanged gifts and souvenirs.  Carols were sung and decorations put up in both trenches. Some exchanged buttons from each other's jackets. The cartoonist Bruce Bairnsfather, who served during the war, reported seeing one German soldier sitting calmly while a British gunner cut his hair.  And perhaps most famously, the two sides engaged in a less bloody conflict - a mass game of football that saw as many as 50 participants kicking a pigskin around the battlefield.  It was an uneasy truce - there were more than a few who were openly hostile to the idea, and warned that if the enemy left their trench and attempted to fraternise, they would be shot. But in some of these cases at least, their reticence proved unfounded.  For just a brief moment and in just a few places, peace won out.

I have never and will ever condone the act of war.  There is always a better solution.  And there are some within the military who glory in warfare, who court it - those who, in simple terms, are spoiling for a fight. But there are others. Those soldiers who signed up to protect and defend those who could not defend themselves.  The ones who held to a code of honour. The ones who carried the stretchers to take their fallen away from the battlefield.  The ones who remained home, trying to keep their house and family going through terrible times.  I don't agree with those who sign up for military action, but neither do I agree that their deaths should be ignored.

I continue to hope for a better world. I'm not convinced I will see an end to war in my lifetime, but I keep hoping that if nothing else, it will fade away.  And sometimes, while war is always the wrong outcome, it may be for the right reasons, or at least burdened with good intentions.  But then, isn't that what the road to Hell is paved with?

And so, on this day, I choose to remember all of those who have lost their lives because of war.  Be they friend or foe, soldier or civilian, everybody matters.  We're all only human.