Laying midwifery aside...
... I think I'll post about what I want tonight.
Sifting through family photos tonight I stumbled over a rather badly shot photo of Mum, Dad and Hannah by a WWII memorial we stopped at north of Honiara on Guadalcanal (I think I was 12 at the time). While remembering the photo and the day it was taken on I never read the actual inscription on the black stone. I read it tonight, it showed clearly enough in the photo to make out the words.
It says...
Governments create wars but young men are called to fight in them. This is a hallowed area for in World II thousands of young men gave their lives here - on the ground, in the air, and on the surrounding seas. Say a prayer in your own way for these gallant men who served so unselfishly when their countries called and who fought and fell in a desperate struggle. They gave their lives that peace might come to these islands and to the world. Remember them always or their sacrifice will have been in vain. God grant us the peace that they have found.
At times it's hard to imagine the ground I played on as a child had blood spilt upon it, it never really struck me when I was there... even when we'd dig in the soil and limestone ground to play house and find bullet shrapnel, and cartridges, it still didn't sink in. We collected them actually, and it was always a find when we dug up a "whole" bullet. Once we found a massive cartridge at the beach... looking at the diameter of the base, about 1.5cm, I remember shivering just a little at the thought of someone being shot by one of them, but that was soon forgotten in the glory of possessing one of the biggest bullets.
I also have the base of a WWII coke bottle... I discovered it on the beach just before we left the Solomons. Some soldier drank out if it and threw the bottle away. It's sitting on my shelf.
posted by Laura @ 10:08 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
There is no question here mentioned concerning whether the cause the men gave themselves to was a worthy one. It is simply noted that they sacrificed 'for something greater than themselves.' We have lost this sense of willing obedience in a day when everything must be scrutinized for its political correctness. Perhaps we have merely lost a naivete or a simplistic narrowsitedness, and in that case, good. But if we have become so concerned about our own skins that we are not willing to sacrifice, rather thinking up any excuse available to us, then what are we? Selfish little people with only our own interests in mind. We forget that we are but a mist, here and then gone.
wow
Thats crazy Laura, and a really cool story too.
Nomad... I appreciate the sentiment, and it applies aptly to world war two, under the historical context, and with the benefit of hindsight.
In regard to Australians in Vietnam however, for the sake of referential comparison, I feel strongly that we should honour the men for the sacrifice they made at the request of their nation... but no Australian will ever forget that those men fought in America's illegal war, initiated on dubious political grounds, and lost decisively.
The Australian RSL mistreated those men for years, and that is a crying shame. There has to be a line between honouring the men, and honouring the cause.
Sorry to politicise your blog Laura, but I feel this point needs making.
What constitutes an 'illegal war?' I missed the law they passed against it. Seems like there are a lot of folks out there breaking that one...
I don't want to suggest we ought to all go join the military and sacrifice our lives for our country. I simply think that the loyalty people had for their family/clan/state/nation doesn't play much part in our thinking any more. We are loyal only to ourselves. And you have to admit, if I spend my entire life working only for my own cause, I've wasted it.
Just thinking...
I'd like to think maybe we could be loyal to our planet and our humanity.
Perhaps then we could stop having wars about politics... and start fighting for things that make sense.
An Illegal war, for the purpose of clarity is a war of agression, a war that isn't justified under international agreements and treaties. Iraq is in fact only a legal war, under the premise of there being weapons of mass destruction there. If those allegations had been false prior to the invasion, the US would have been kicked out of the UN.
At least in theory.
Post a Comment
<< Home