November 12.
The Rev. Mrs Fraser of Auchtermuchty did not wish to take part in the
Armistice Day service and this was the last straw as far as some of her
parishioners were concerned (November 10). I know nothing of the other
reasons for the petition for her removal but she is not alone in
objecting to the continuing celebration of Armistice Day.
As a child in the 1920s I well remember the school parading with the
ex-servicemen and being led by a piper each November 11 through the
village to the war memorial. The minister led the service, names of the
fallen were read out, the piper played The Flowers o' the Forest, and a
bugler sounded the Last Post. Altogether it was a most stirring occasion
and it implanted in many a young mind that war was glamorous and how
sweet and noble it was to die for your country.
But when it came, war was not like that. Men, willingly or not, were
sent or led into battle either on their feet or in tanks or planes or
ships. They knew that some of them would be killed but man has a strong
belief in his own immortality and each thought that it would not happen
to him.
Many willingly took great risks in battle but they did so for reasons
that had nothing to do with their native land or freedom or democracy or
any of the other things for which they are said to have laid down their
lives.
Some were killed while doing their best to obey an order; some while
trying to be of help to others, some because of the inadequacy of their
superiors. I knew men who were killed but none who willingly laid down
his life that we might live.
There are good reasons for remembering those who died in war. Perhaps
even more so those who survived and still suffer their wounds. I hope a
way can be found for so doing without bands playing and parades and
festivals. And I admire Mrs Fraser for her stance on this.
John Stevenson,
Cruachan,
Villa Road,
Oban.
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