As the years roll on, we take another step away from the horrors and atrocities of World Wars I and II. And even though subsequent wars and conflicts continue to take their toll of precious human life, none are felt as comprehensively as those earlier World Wars.
The summer of 2009 saw the end of an era with the deaths of the last surviving British veterans of the Great War; Henry William Allingham and Harry Patch. With their passing and those like them, we have lost the last tenuous living connection we may have had with World War I. A memory bridge that somehow joined us by the thoughts and words to the Fallen that some of us have only heard about.
My own relatives who fell in the 1914-18 War were great grandparents and great uncles. But my parents and their generation knew them and speak of them still. The only links that survive are memories and stories that have been passed down or passed on by word of mouth.
It is a responsibility of each generation to pass on the stories of sacrifice that wars inflict on every community. And in turn it is the responsibility of coming generations not to forget the tragic lessons learned through wars and the sacrifices of those who have gone before us.
The memorials to the Fallen of the First and Second World Wars at Torphichen Kirk are reminders to all of us of the folly of war.
We regularly pay our respects to those named as well as remembering the other unsung heroes whose names remain unknown.
We must believe that they did not die in vain, but if such a statement is to remain true, we need to continue to work hard for more peaceful solutions to our world’s problems; solutions such as compromise and reconciliation which help to maintain the peace bought by their ultimate sacrifice.
Rev. Clifford Acklam, B.D., M.Th. Minister of Torphichen and Avonbridge
