13.11.05
Christ Church
Morningside
Remembrance Sunday
He turned 16 towards the end of 1944. That’s when he received the brown paper envelope telling him to report for duty. A few weeks later he went through basic military training – with the emphasis being on the word basic – and was sent wearing a thin summer uniform to fight on the Russian Front. He was given a piece of wood, crudely made to look like and rifle and told that he would soon pick a real gun up once he reached the front. He was captured within six weeks. He was sent to a labour camp in Siberia and was finally released and allowed to go home as part of an allied prisoner of war exchange with the Soviet government in 1952.
That was his war. He was German. His name was/is Hans and he and his family are old friends of my parents. He now lives in Munich, Bavaria.
As you know, Remembrance Day/Sunday was first marked after the First World War – the Great War – ‘the War to end all wars’. We know that this was a dirty war, a war that became a stalemate, a quagmire, a war of attrition where the side that lost the most troops/soldiers/human beings would also lose the war.
Many people wrote about their experiences in the trenches of France. Wilfred Owen is, perhaps, one of the most well known. He wrote some of his most famous poems while convalescing here in Edinburgh – at what is now the Craiglockhart Campus of Napier University.
His poem, ‘The Last Laugh’ is, in my opinion, one his most poignant. It describes in vivid poetic form the last moments of life of dying soldiers, hit by bullets and shrapnel, stabbed by bayonets and poisoned by gas.
The Last Laugh
'Oh! Jesus
Christ! I'm hit,' he said; and died.
Another
sighed,-'O Mother, -Mother, - Dad!'
'My Love!'
one moaned. Love-languid seemed his mood, by Wilfred Owen |
And so it goes on and on and on and on and on. ‘The War to end all wars’ didn’t. And yes, the Second World War saved the world from Fascism only to unleash Communism and the Cold War on us all. One might remember that the United Kingdom originally went to war with Germany in 1939 over their invasion of Poland. At the end of the Second World War we were quite content to let the Soviets occupy Poland as a spoil of victory. The people of Poland were eventually liberated nearly fifty years later through non-violent protest and industrial action, through diplomacy and negotiation.
And since 1945 we have fought many wars. The Korean War, The Vietnam War and The Falklands War. Our young men and women have fought and died in Palestine, Egypt, Cyprus, Ireland, the Balkans, Kuwait, Afghanistan (for the 5th time in 100 years!) and now Iraq.
And it is not just soldiers, troops in arms that suffer in war. The people who suffer as much or perhaps even more are the civilians, the people whose homes, families and lives are fought in and over – especially women, children and the vulnerable.
The following pictures describe an incident that took place at the beginning of this year when the mother and father of five children were shot and killed by allied troops at a checkpoint in Iraq.
In pictures: Shooting in Tal Afar
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US soldiers in Iraq approach a car after opening fire when it failed to stop as requested. Despite warning shots it continued to drive towards their dusk patrol in Tal Afar on 18 January. Chris Hondros a photographer with Getty News was on hand to record these pictures. | |
| inside the car were an Iraqi family of seven. The mother and father were killed but their five children in the backseat survived, one with a non-life threatening wound |
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As the children get out of the car one of them screams, her hands covered in blood | |
| aaaxxaaa |
others cry or just stand bewildered |
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The other clips read:
“The injured child is given first-aid by a US soldier...
...as is his sister...
...before being taken to a local hospital...
...with the rest of his family. A soldier carries one of the children into the hospital while an older sister carries her brother.
Doctors rush the children inside to ensure no-one else is wounded.
A US military statement said troops trying to stop the car used hand signals and fired warning shots before firing directly at the car, killing the driver and front seat passenger.
The statement also said that military officials extended their condolences for this "unfortunate incident" and were investigating. “
Photos: Chris Hondros/Getty Images
I was talking a few weeks ago to someone who have lived and worked for a number of years in Denmark. He told me about seeing a little plaque on the side of a church which was placed next to a small indentation in the wall; without the marker you would probably not notice the spot. The words on the plaque date from just after the Second World War and they read, “This marks the place where Heinz Gunther [a German soldier] killed my son.” It brought home to me the very human side of war. It is so easy to talk of 98 British soldiers killed in Iraq and forget that they all had names, partners, children, parents, dreams, hopes, plans…
In my opinion in war there are no winners, only losers.
War is the most striking and tangible sign of human failure, weakness and stupidity.
But let me be clear… by saying this, I am in no way passing judgement on individual people who have fought in war – I am in no position to do that, neither would I want to. They had to do what they had to do.
But, what are we to think or feel or say on this Remembrance Sunday – the day when we deliberately and collectively remember the victims of war and armed conflict?
We must pray for peace. Peace with justice. Peace with justice and liberty and freedom for everyone.
We must talk peace. Talk about peace. Talk words of peace.
We must work for peace – in whatever way that we can – and this cuts across political and social colours and persuasions. It doesn’t matter what our politics or lack thereof, or backgrounds, social status, education or what… We can all work for peace:
· Being in touch with our local MP’s, MEP’s and counsellors
· Supporting a charity/organization that works for peace – the United Nations, Amnesty International…
· Being peacemakers in our own homes, among our own families, friends and circle of acquaintances
I am deeply grateful to those men and women who have fought, died and been broken in body or spirit to protect all of the things I take for granted day by day. But I pray even more fervently that there will be a day – and that we will seriously work towards that day - when our children and grandchildren will not be called upon to do the same.
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13th November 2005