The long established tradition of keeping in grateful and loving remembrance those who died in the defence of justice and freedom is commendable. It shows they have not been forgotten. It sends a message of appreciation to the many thousands who are still suffering as a result of selfless participation.
These being remembered include people of every colour, class, creed or affiliation, political or otherwise. They are in the thoughts and loving concern of the thousands observing acts of remembrance all over the world.
Contributions to the appeals on behalf of ex-service men and women in dire need are administered regardless of background. The societies concerned are crying out urgently for increased help.
At the acts of remembrance and at the time of the silence these words are recited:
"They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn,
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."
The lines were written by Laurence Binyon (1869 - 1943), a man of culture and scholarship.
They have become almost an essential on such days. Another quotation (author unknown) used to awaken responsibility on such occasions, is: "We honour our dead by caring for the living".
In the Bible Reading Fellowship notes for Remembrance Day there is a delightful and informative account of the origin of the wellknown "When you go home". It reads:
"In the Far East in a place called Kohima . . . in what was Assam but is now Nagaland, there is a war cemetery that is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the world. It overlooks the `jumbled blue forests and hills of Nagaland and Burma'. Beneath the hill lie the graves. One thousand three-hundred and eighty-seven of them, in orderly, impersonal, endless rows. Each of them is marked with a stone block bearing a bronze plate. At the edge of the graveyard is a stone tablet with words carved into it that are familiar."
These words purport to give a message from those who suffered and died - challenging words to all able to enjoy the justice and freedom they defended:
"When you go home,
Tell them of us and say,
For their tomorrow
We gave our today."
The words written on one of the bronze plates are:
"Good-night, Daddy.
Killed in Action, April 21, 1944, Aged 29
Our only beloved son, who died that freedom might live."