Moravian Messenger Nov 2021

moravian
NOVEMBER 2021
messenger
The Changing Face of Remembrance?
When we join the service in church, at the local war memorial or watch the national commemoration on television we feel ourselves part of a tribute that has usually ended with the four words 'WE WILL REMEMBER THEM'. But how far can we say that this is what actually happens or has its intensity of commitment at the present time begun to fade as the end of the Second World War will soon be over 100 years ago. What has changed or have we changed in this period? The stone inscriptions, the bronze plaques and the statues of gallant service personnel still stand with their semi-religious connotations as visible symbols. Have we the viewers changed and has the actual Remembrance Day started to become just another date in the national calendar as time moves on?
The list of names on the monuments have varied from listing by social status, rank, alphabetically or even by street, recording the service and sacrifice made over several generations. From two world wars to the many lesser conflicts since. The roll of honour on the memorials is not the narrative but lists names, each with a unique story and a families' response to it. When first on view how more intense were the feelings of those gathered there as it was the only link with the departed as the actual burials of loved ones were scattered across the globe. Some vague place on a map and not in the local cemetery where at least the grief could be partly healed by a visit, a natural established form of mourning. A thread of continuity was attempted with the burial of the 'unknown soldier' in Westminster Abbey, the one that many
could relate to. Now that there are fewer alive who served and as civilians lived through the Second World War and even their children are getting fewer, are we turning a personal connection into an annual historic ceremony part of each year and a history unit in school?
As the generations pass will we take a different position not only marking the end of the war but of the empire that much was sacrificed for? How did the colonial peoples of the European and American empires react to the savage and at times inhuman behaviour of their so-called superiors? Some commentators have written that SEAC (the South East Asian Command) should be effectually known as Save England's Asian Colonies. It has been called the forgotten war, but this may be that many recognised that
continued overleaf on page 122
Olive Linyard Remembered
(page 124)
World Heritage Meeting in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
(page 125)
BMB
(British Mission Board) News
(page 127)
After the 1870s
Christingles Part 2
(page 128)