Lest we forget.
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| Photo by Neil Zeller |
It is important to note that today as we remember those who
sacrificed themselves in service to Empire and in response to the
commands of their Kings and countries, that we must also remember that
ALL the men and women who participated in WWI were "Victorians" and
those who served in WWII were mostly "Edwardians".
These two titanic conflicts changed the worlds of these people in
unimaginable ways. For the world of neither the Victorians nor the Edwardians, as we tend
to study and re-create it, remained when the smoke and dust settled.
Not only did hundreds of thousands of them die, but the very cultural structures in which they had grown up were swept away.
In 1914 a farmer in Western Canada, a fisherman on the Coasts, a
labourer in the factories of Eastern Canada, or a miner in the far
north, went when their King called because that was what one did.
105 years ago when the guns fell silent at 11:00 am on November 11th, 1918,
they did not know that everything had changed forever but they hoped
that at least war was done with.
Alas their children found that was not true.
There are none alive now who remember the world of WWI and very few indeed that remember WWII.
We owe it to them that WE remember, we also owe their World, the
Victorian and Edwardian World we celebrate, that it not be forgotten
either.
Lest we forget.
God Save the King!
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