High on a hill in Picardy stands
the lonely Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. I first visited this
Edwin Lutyens designed shrine for over seventy two thousand soldiers in 1983.
Then, there were no trees to hide it from visitors climbing the hill from
either the River Ancre, or the villages of Beaumont Hamel, Hamel and Grandcourt.
It stood starkly overlooking the site of the Shwaben Redoubt and the newly
built Ulster Tower, a replica of St Helen’s Tower near Belfast. Erected as a memorial
to the Ulster Division whose soldiers heroically took the hill and the redoubt from
the Germans, this tower looks down on the fields where carnage lay in wait for
Ulstermen in No Mans Land.
At 3:00 a.m. on 30th
June 1983 I simulated the gathering of the Ulstermen in Thiepval Wood. I lay
amongst the trees and heard the sound of the birds in the tranquil wood. I looked into the sun coming over the hill the
Irish were about to attack.
Thirty-three years later I am
back, with wife, cousin, friends, Prime Minister David Cameron, President
Hollande, the Prince of Wales and other members of royalty and governments. Back
to attend a commemorative event to mark one hundred years since the start of
the Battle of the Somme. Afterwards I wrote a letter to my five young grandchildren
imploring them to mark the significance of 1st July 1916. They are
too young currently to know but I ask them when they grow older to discover more
about one of the most terrible days of the entire twentieth century and learn
from its aftermath.
So far, three generations
including mine have not had to fight in a British war. We are lucky, fortunate,
blessed – call it whatever you want. Here in a remote part of France, we came to
pay tribute to the young men of 1916 who, mostly, went innocently into a hell,
the like of which none of us alive today have come remotely near. I write
mostly because it is accurate to say that some of the officers in 1916 knew
full well they were sending men to be cut down in a most barbaric, cruel and inhuman
manner.
On 23rd June 2016 the
people of the United Kingdom voted in a referendum. The question asked starkly
of voters was whether they wished the UK to remain in the European Union or
leave. By the time my grandchildren can understand my letter they may well have
to ask Google, or its successor, what the terms UK and EU stood for.
It is my hope that the decision
to leave the EU by the majority of UK voters will not lead to my grand children
being exposed to an English military conflict. If events unfold that lead this
country to war, I urged them to work with their siblings, cousins and loved
ones to remind everyone around them of what happened at Thiepval and further
along The Ancre and the The Somme, on 1st July 1916. Perhaps the voters
and politicians might listen to what my loved ones tell them and move to avert
war.
Thousands of symbolic poppies and
cornflowers were released from the Thiepval Memorial at the 2016 service. I collected
some. I hold dear my own poppy and cornflower. I will use them to remind me of
days one hundred years ago when men, (and they were all men), took decisions
that resulted in over one million soldiers being killed or wounded. I will also
use them as a symbol of hope that the soon to be elected and re-elected women
governing major Western countries will find other ways of settling national
arguments and differences of cultures, passions and beliefs.
Meanwhile, in an isolated
landscape in northern France Lutyens’s monument reminds us of the fragility of
man.
If you would like to share your experiences of any of the
landscapes discussed in this blog please record them in the Comments section.
Great first blog Richard. An important piece of history!
ReplyDeleteNo war in western Europe for three generations is something that no doubt British Gen X and millennials take for granted. If the EU has done nothing else it has helped keep 'peace in our time'. You're right to draw attention to the dangers of rejecting internationalism in favour of nationalism Richard, let's hope that the lessons of 1916 are not easily forgotten as we search for British, or English or Celtic, identity in the twenty first century.
ReplyDeleteIn Australia millennials are drawn to the Gallipoli story and ANZAC Day has surpassed Australia Day in importance to the national identity. For Australians visiting Anzac Cove has become an act of pilgrimage. Interesting that 1915/16 feels more relevant in modern day Australia than perhaps WWI does to young people in Britain.