For me, this is a week of remembering soldiers, sailors and air personnel who died while serving crown and country. I was fortunate during my 35 years of Service that I did not to lose any of the 800 service personnel under my command while on duty; but there were two who died in road traffic accidents while on leave. There are also dozens who I served with, who are remembered on memorials such as the stone cairn at Beinn Na Lice on the Mull of Kintyre, which commemorates the 29 people who died in the tragic Chinook crash in 1994.
Unfortunately, each year we lose focus on what Poppy Week is really all about as the days leading to Remembrance Sunday become more political in nature. In my lifetime, naïve members of CND were the first offenders; they were joined by “head in the sand” struthiones and appeasers sympathetic to people who want to do Britain harm. The Royal British Legion (I am a long-standing member) is also not averse to seeking extra publicity by planting controversial stories in the Media such as the mischievous Weatherspoon pub tale last week.
The Festival of Remembrance plays a tremendous role in helping families of the fallen, but I do feel the way this is done is a discouragement for young people to join the Armed Forces. If only we were allowed not just to pause for thought on the courage, honour and sacrifice of those who died serving their country, but to celebrate heroism on the battlefield in equal measures.
