WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET THEM!

Posted By: Peter Clegg
Date Posted: 04/11/2009

This Sunday and on Wednesday, the 11th November the actual date that the guns fell silent across war torn Europe, Rochdale town centre will, like the rest of the country, fall silent in an moment of remembrance to those who have died in the service of our country and in the defence of the freedom which we now all enjoy. This simple ceremony is a small act which we take each year to recall the horrors of war and the sacrifices taken by a few for many.

At a time when our armed forces are actively involved in combat in trouble spots across the world, it is perhaps more important than ever to recall the contribution that these brave men and women have played, and continue to play on our behalf.

This year as always, I, along with members of the Royal British Legion and the cadet corps, man the Poppy stalls in both the Exchange and the Wheatsheaf Centre. I find it reassuring that sales are as always high. It doesn’t after all matter what creed, race or colour you are to remember those who have given their all on our behalf.

Wearing the poppy may seem a small token gesture but ask any current serving or ex serviceman and they will tell you how much it means to them. It shows that we appreciate the work they are doing and the work that their predecessors did.

The poppy does not “glorify” war as some may claim but helps us all to recall the horrors that man can inflict upon man.

Each year I, along with Councillor Tom Bailey ( an Ex Lancashire Fusilier) travel with a small group of veterans to the battlefields of Northern Europe. It is so moving to visit the war graves of soldiers who gave their all. Their average age of the deceased is 19 , only just old enough to marry and vote yet old enough to fight and die. They did what they did without question because they did what they believed to be right for their country. I wonder how many of our young people today would be prepared to do the same.

Never have the words that will echo across our land at services on Sunday be more appropriate:
“They shall not grow 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 shall remember them.”