2 responses to “Remembrance 2009”

1. 

   Will Leitch November 7th, 2009 at 08:19

   It’s been very interesting watching this transition – seeing people – Nationalists, Unionists and others – coming ’round to the idea that remembering and honouring a fallen relative doesn’t mean you are necessarily supporting the war in which he fell, nor the regime for which he fought.

   The motives of the rememberer can be as varied as the motives the fallen one had for joining up in the first place.

   And remembering doesn’t mean you have to be there at a memorial on Remembrance Sunday if there are military trappings with which you are uncomfortable.

   Back in 2006 I covered the 90th Anniversary of the Somme – it was very moving at Guillemont – where the Irishmen of the 16th Division fought and died – to see the stone Celtic cross outside the church.

   Here the simple little wooden crosses of Remembrance which people leave, had tricolours ribbons on them. Irish families had been, seen, and left them.

   Here the dignitaries gathered for the ceremony, the village Mayor, British and Irish government ministers, British and irish army soldiers.

   Here the band of the Royal Irish Regiment played the Marseillaise, the Queen, and the Soldier’s Song.

   Put beside that the massive response from Nationalist families to the move to get the names of the fallen onto the War memorial in Armagh (which I covered this week). Amanda Moreno at the Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum is head of this project, and she says the vast majority of Armagh soldiers came from Catholic and/or Nationalist families – and so it is with by far the majority of enquiries and offers of support.

   (She’s great at finding stuff out if you bring a name and a few details – she’s now running all the Military museums in NI)

   Ordinary families have told me how their fathers and grandfathers talked about the war only with other comrades, otherwise, never.

   That’s changing, and I’d argue the appetite for the kind of memorial Conall suggests is indeed there.

2. 

   Fearghal O Boyle November 10th, 2009 at 16:18

   HI Conal,
   Just back from Belgium this morning, where I had the pleasure of bringing a group of young people from both sides of the community in Derry around on a conflict transformation programme, very similar to the trip we did last year.
   I believe the Island of Ireland Peace Park at Messine fills the roll you are looking at. Indeed this week there is still a wreath from the ‘Students and Staff of the Infantry School, Irish Defence Forces’ lying at the foot of the Peace Pledge there.
   Sadly some gobshites had also gone through the visitors books and scratched out the Londonderry which many visitors had left as their addresses. So, still a long long way to go.