We Will Remember Them

Tuesday 24th October 2023 17:22

Remembrance Sunday has always been very important to me, partly because some of my friends have been deeply influenced by their experience of war. John landed in Normandy on D-day +6. He was an engineer and followed the army all the way to Berlin repairing damaged tanks so they could go back into battle. Rod was at university with me, he was a midshipman at the Falkland’s and his job was to deploy the ship’s helicopter. He watched as the ships around him burned and sank and he was never the same again. Mark was a commando in the Falklands and as a result of his experiences there became a vicar and a padre with the territorials and did a six month tour of duty in the hospital in Camp Bastion.

Again today hundreds are being killed each day in both Ukraine and Gaza and thousands are being injured in each war each day. There are no winners in war there are only losers. Hundreds of bereaved families and even more injured people.

So let me encourage you to “Love your Neighbour”. If Russia had loved their neighbour there would be no war in Ukraine. If Israel and Hamas had loved their neighbour they would be able to live peacefully side by side.

It is critically important for us to learn from our mistakes and to remember the cost of war. To remember those who have died and their families and to remember those who still live with the physical and emotional scars of war. To value the peace they fought for and to pray desperately for peace in our time.

There are two services on Remembrance Sunday 12 November 9.30am in church and 11.00am at the war memorial. Both include reading the names of the people who died in World war I and II and both include a 2 minute silence. I do hope you are able to join us for one or both of them.