By Steven Lang
The misty grey skies seemed appropriate for Remembrance Day last Sunday. They recalled the miserable trenches and battlefields in Europe where millions of people lost their lives during the Great War of 1914 to 1918.
Many who attended the Remembrance Day ceremony wore a single red poppy as a sign of respect for those who gave their lives in war. The poppy calls on us all to respect, reflect and remember.
The Makanakop Shellhole hosted the annual parade and together with Kingswood College, St Andrew’s College and the St Mary’s Scout Troop. Victoria Girls High School, Hoërskool P.J. Olivier, Graeme College, the Diocesan School for Girls, the Old Kingswoodian Club, the South African Police Services, the Democratic Alliance and two Americans paid their respects at the cenotaph on Church Square.
The local battalion of the South African Army and the Mayor’s office were not present at the parade.
The Makanakop Shellhole is a branch of the Memorable Order of Tin Hats (MOTHS) which was founded in 1927 as a brotherhood of South African former front-line soldiers. Remembrance Day parades began in memory of Armistice Day, commemorating the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, the official end of World War 1. The Great War, as it was known then, was seen as the war that would end all wars. History has shown otherwise.
Since then, many wars, some of them comparably tragic as the Great War have claimed millions of lives and brought unimaginable suffering on people all around our planet. For this reason, on Remembrance Day we pay homage to those in all conflicts who paid the ultimate price so that we might live.
Speaking on behalf of the Makanakop Shellhole at Sunday’s ceremony, Milanda Coetzer emphasised the importance of the day to all those present. She said:
We all have heroes and heroines in our own bloodlines. Take a walk around this cenotaph and read the names here. Those are the ones officially noted at the time after Word War 1 and 2. But we know so many others. We remember nurses, ambulancemen and women, drivers, waggoneers, carriers, dockhands, scouts, doctors, clergymen, veterinarians, cooks all the people who served and sacrificed alongside the armed forces, regardless of colour or belief, but in service of their countries. We will remember the families whose loved ones paid the ultimate price. We celebrate our freedoms fought for at great cost.
It was noteworthy that the majority of people at the ceremony were either teenagers who had never directly experienced armed conflict or those from a much older generation who had witnessed war first hand. Coetzer referred to this second group as “. . . older men with grey beards, some stout, some slim, some weather-beaten, all slightly careworn. All have a certain glint in their gaze, something unfathomable. It comes from facing death head-on and doing it more than once.”
Those in the prime of their lives who take key decisions governing our society – young and middle-aged adults – seemed to be in the minority. Will they be responsible for abandoning the core value of Remembrance Day – Lest we forget?
