more people should attend as there seems to be a lack of young 'uns attending
Most probably because of the "Dumbed down" version of history that seems to be taught in schools nowadays. If the young uns are not taught it as it was because it is not percieved to be politically correct, what hope is there for a Rememberance Day in the future.
History is exactly that, history, you can't change it. Teach it as it happened, if they dumb down the wars the same thing could happen in the future. We can't learn from our mistakes if no-one tells us we have made a mistake.
Exactly so, and because the tradition of commemorating it is not passed down the generations in quite the same way as it is in a lot of other countries, it is left to a variable curriculum to teach it. Mind you it's interesting to see that the first entry when you type "Remembrance Day" into google comes up with this
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Remembrance.html - well done to a junior school in Kent!
The barriers were being put up along the pavements in Whitehall today to prepare for the march past the Cenotaph. And all round the country, the old, the bold and a lot of the young will be getting ready too - it's the in-betweens that often seem to be absent, too busy to take a few minutes or an hour out of a day.
For the last couple of years it has been my privilege to take a flight of troops and lay a wreath on behalf of RAF Marham at Fakenham's Remembrance Day parade and service. Last year, there was a large tray of turf to one side of the memorial, with about 100 or so wooden poppy crosses planted in it. When I asked one of the WW2 veterans there what they were, he told me that he and his British Legion mates had noticed, when visiting church yards in the area, that there were a lot of Service graves marking the burials of people who were not from Fakenham, but who came from far and wide, and whose names did not appear on the traditional town war memorial or in the churches, because they did not come from Fakenham. They felt strongly that they should be remembered too and, in league with the local schools, visited the schools, talked about Remembrance Day and arranged to go with teachers and children to visit the graves, such that each grave was visited by at least one child the day before the Remembrance Day parade where they placed a poppy cross at the grave. Then, on Remembrance Day before the parade, the same children had gathered to place another cross in the tray at the memorial, having written on it the name of the person whose grave they had visited. They then stayed and watched the parade. Touched me deeply to say the least.
And Peter is right - whatever the rights and wrongs of what has happened or is happening out in the world at large, please do remember that in the Armed Forces personnel can't "put it to a vote" or say "nah, don't fancy that". We do what we do as best we can and, believe me, it means a great deal to know that we are supported - and a good way is for the "in-between" ages to be somewhere appropriate for a short time to show that support on Saturday or Sunday.
MG Mark
