Leader: Remember the fallen and hope for an end to war
Published 11 Nov 2011 09:15
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THE world must have held its collective breath when US President Woodrow Wilson spoke to Congress in 1917 of "the war to end all wars".
As we now know, at the cost of countless millions of lives, mankind's capacity for inflicting wholesale suffering and destruction should never be under-estimated, and the 21st century is showing all the signs of being every bit as bloody as its forerunner.
While veterans of the Great War, of which Wilson spoke, are all now at rest, the wonders of modern technology will ensure that their thoughts and memories of battles and bravery will be preserved, alongside those of the Second World War, Korea, Malaya, Cyprus, Northern Ireland, the Falklands, Iraq, Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Mercifully, there were no British casualties during this year's Libyan bombing offensive, but that is no consolation to the hundreds of families for whom there is a sharp intake of breath each time they hear the words: "A British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan...."
Tomorrow at 11am the nation marks the anniversary of that first Armistice Day 93 years ago. Today we tell the stories of those who have known different wars down the generations.
Like us they hope one day to see the end of all wars.
This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 10 Nov 11
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