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Couldn't watch the Festival of Remembrance at the Albert Hall this year, too poignant. So many years passed and you don't forget them. Jock, Heinz, Robert, Alan. 22 years gone in the blink of an eye, and now as many again. Here I am in retirement and the world hasn't moved on, men and women are still being sent into conflicts to have their lives irrevocably shattered. And the noble words spoken, the poems read, the songs sung, the standing reverently with heads bowed, is this remembering? Tried to watch the service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, the faces of those responsible and of all those who took responsibility, but then I couldn't watch. Next year we'll do it all again with more lives shattered, more children trying and failing to understand. Platitudes have long since worn thin.
We are where we are today because of ........ There are so many endings to this simple sentence.
I left my medals in the drawer as I do every year, and the poppy bought is personal and laid where only I know it is.
I know the places where OP Banner was fought, visit them regularly, know the people. Their lives too haven't in the majority of cases moved on. All the players are political now, but the divisions are as strong as ever. Flags and marching bands and memorials to fallen players and the peace walls will never come down in my lifetime.
And I know if this is remembering then it means so many things to so many different people.
G22B was a good time and in a way ... not.
We are where we are today because of ........ There are so many endings to this simple sentence.
I left my medals in the drawer as I do every year, and the poppy bought is personal and laid where only I know it is.
I know the places where OP Banner was fought, visit them regularly, know the people. Their lives too haven't in the majority of cases moved on. All the players are political now, but the divisions are as strong as ever. Flags and marching bands and memorials to fallen players and the peace walls will never come down in my lifetime.
And I know if this is remembering then it means so many things to so many different people.
G22B was a good time and in a way ... not.
In memory of Private David James McCahill
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