What it means to be a war hero,
How our idea of war hero has changed as the Invictus Games come to a close
Afew years ago, Jonny Harvey left the British military as an RAF pilot and settled down in his hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland, transitioning back to becoming a normal citizen. Nobody really acknowledged what he had done, the things he had experienced, the injuries he had come back with.
Today, surrounded by his two young children and his wife, all in Team United Kingdom attire, Harvey is an Invictus Games athlete, competing in archery. People stop him in the street now: they say hello, thank him for his service, ask him about what he’s doing and wish him luck.
“The visual awareness is the biggest catalyst in showing people what (soldiers) do, and what we’ve been through, and what we’ve become as a result of that,” said Harvey, who is one of the 90 people on the United Kingdom team at the Games.
Global-scale events such as the Invictus Games are adding nuance to the ways we honour and celebrate the military. Long-time traditions of observing moments of silence, laying wreaths, ceremonial military parades and wearing poppies have served as sombre reminders of military sacrifice in the past.
But today’s Games, and the inclusion of injured soldiers onto the fields of major sporting events are big, bold, robust celebrations, not of military might, but of military perseverance and struggle.
“You know a lot of servicemen change after their service and (the Invictus Games) is a great platform to show these changes,” Harvey said. “It’s not always a great change, sometimes it’s negative, but we still battle through it and we make a positive out of it.”
Events such as the Invictus Games are for “the modern-day veteran” such as Harvey, said Michael Burns, CEO of the Games, where the average age of the participants is 30 years old.
“It’s not the WW2 veteran, not the Korea veteran. This is the modern-day veteran who would’ve served their country in the last decade or two,” Burns said. “Who is still serving their country, despite being ill or injured.”
The focus of Remembrance Day is often the older veteran, who participated in the world wars, and who remain very few in number, said both Harvey and Burns.
When you put a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or on a war memorial with hundreds of names, you don’t know who exactly you’re honouring.
The display of soldiers and triumph has helped 9-year-old Abby Laurence realize that “anyone can be a hero, even if I don’t know them.”
“There are the guys we lost along the way, and we represent all those people.”
JONNY HARVEY INVICTUS GAMES ATHLETE
“Even if they’re disabled,” she added as she cheered and grabbed a Canada 150 flag to wave during the semifinal of wheelchair rugby.
And the solemn elements of military celebrations are still here. Every participant of the Invictus Games competes in honour of someone they’ve lost in action. The difference now is that they can tell everyone about them, they can talk about their mental health, their PTSD.
Harvey talked about how over 800 war veterans applied to be on the United Kingdom team for the Invictus Games.
“And many more didn’t apply because they’re too injured or sick,” he said. “And then there are the guys we lost along the way, and we represent all those people.”
“I think we celebrate the guys that are still here, and the guys that have battled through different challenges in a place like this,” Harvey said, gesturing at a loud and beaming crowd at the semifinal of wheelchair rugby.
“We remember who we’ve lost in the moments of silence.”