Lest We Forget

My family history does not weave itself into the history books of WW1 however my grandfather served in the Pacific as an airforce trainer and instructor in WW2. He was awarded an MBE in 1949. My wife’s grandfather landed at Gallipoli where he lost a shoulder and survived, returning to New Zealand and a shoulder-less life in property valuation.

As a child I can recall meeting friends’ relatives and grandparents. A missing eye, or a half lip gone, a limp or useless arm – yet I was too young to see the haunting that must have sat behind the physical damage.

At aged 46 I still often feel like an unsure kid trying to figure it all out, and I can’t imagine what these young people in 1915 were actually feeling as barely out of childhood they were dumped off boats into a hail of bullets, and thrust into a war in a place that they wouldn’t even have heard of.
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My feelings on this day are first and foremost a deep sadness, sitting close by is a frustrated anger. When I see those lists of names I can’t help feeling that they should never have been sent to war in the first place, and of course once they were there the errors and mistakes that made the ordeal worse for both sides upsets me further.

I know I should write that thankfulness and pride are other emotions I feel, but honestly, I struggle to get past my frustrated sadness.

When I think of us here in New Zealand, I feel just so fortunate. Wikipedia gives me a list of 55 on-going armed conflicts currently in the world, the longest running started in 1918 (I think if you dig deeper some of these conflicts may have roots going a lot deeper than that). In 2023 and 2024 the most fatalities recorded are in the Israel-Palestine and the Russo-Ukrainian conflicts.

While far from perfect, here in New Zealand we are a long way away from the troubles that impact the rest of the world, with their borders bunched up together and missiles pointed at one another. We produce an enormous excess of food and so on the whole scarcity, that fuel of war, should not be a problem here. It’s in our identity to be welcoming. To freely spend time with who we like is in our national character. To have friends and colleagues across cultural borders and boundaries is a joy of living here.

We are quick to extend the hand of peace.

Amongst this backdrop then, I end up thankful.

But at the same time, on this day.
Lest we Forget,

They that shall not grow old.

M
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