Last posts on remembrance day2026-11-13T17:11:41+01:00All Rights Reserved blogSpirithttps://starter.blogspirit.com/https://starter.blogspirit.com/en/explore/posts/tag/remembrance%20day/atom.xmlDavid Woodwardhttp://diaphania.blogspirit.com/about.html'They shall not grow old as we grow old'tag:diaphania.blogspirit.com,2005-11-17:4210162005-11-17T01:10:00+01:002005-11-17T01:10:00+01:00 Plaintive thoughts on Remembrance Day morning A cold, grey morning on a...
<p><b>Plaintive thoughts on Remembrance Day morning</b></p> <p>A cold, grey morning on a village green in Oxfordshire. A patch of marble chippings and three of us clutching our wreaths, lined out before the little war memorial.</p> <p>The names of a dozen or so from the village, fallen in two World Wars. The parish priest's surplice catches in the breeze, but his voice is that of a millitary chaplain, clear and uncompromising.</p> <p>He calls out the prayers for peace and reconciliation. A light aircraft drones overhead, an aimless buzzing. "Perhaps it's Douglas Bader!" – a quiet voice behind me jokes.</p> <p>To my left, a representative of the British Legion. She is smartly dressed, as she is every year; gloved, medals pinned to her coat: "or it could be my Tommy!" she says, so softly.</p> <p>We walk to the memorial in turn, gently place the wreath, step back and bow our heads for a few moments. The British Legion standards are dipped and then are raised again as we all declare 'we shall remember them!'.</p> <p>Afterwards a frail hand suddenly rests on my arm. At the memorial, for a moment, she stumbled and almost fell: "trouble is I'm not used to these high shoes any more". And then a smile and "goodbye then – until next year!".</p>