Remembrance means looking forward, too

Each November, the nation gathers in remembrance. At the Cenotaph today, the Queen will lead representatives of every part of British society, and of the nations of the Commonwealth, in paying tribute to “the glorious dead”. Across this country, and across the globe, there will be similar ceremonies, marking the wars that have scarred our past and the bravery of the men and women who fought them.

Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day are traditionally moments to look to the past. They emphasise the continuity between those who serve today and those who served in the past. The Queen herself is a living symbol of that continuity, as part of a generation born in the shadow of the First World War and raised amid the struggles of the Second. For her – and for her husband, who served with distinction in both the Mediterranean and Pacific theatres – the fight against fascism is not a matter of history but of memory.

In recent years, we have gained a new appreciation of the necessity of remembrance. Britain’s long campaign in Afghanistan, and its involvement in Iraq, have reminded us of the dangers that our servicemen face, and the burden that they take on. In a moving article elsewhere in this paper, Jacqui Thompson describes how her reservist husband, Senior Aircraftman Gary Thompson, answered the call to serve, losing his life when his vehicle was struck by an anti-tank mine in Kandahar in 2008. The two-minute silence is no consolation for the loss of her husband; but it is, she says, some consolation that his sacrifice is remembered and honoured along with that of thousands upon thousands of others.

Remembrance, however, is not just about the past, but about the present. It is right and proper to honour the dead: hence the universal approbation for the Government’s overdue decision to list all of the 44 memorials designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. But this is a time to remember not only that they fought, but what they fought for.

That is all the more important given what is happening elsewhere in the world. In the Middle East and much of north Africa, an unforgiving and apocalyptic ideology has taken hold that venerates the death of civilians, and especially Western civilians. The bloodshed in Sharm el-Sheikh is only the latest sorry entry in a bulging catalogue of atrocities. In Syria, the West watches, seemingly helpless, as millions suffer and thousands die.

It can be hard to appreciate, under such circumstances, that the world is still a better and safer place than it has ever been – and that it is so in large part due to the efforts of Britain and its Armed Forces. It is not just the great victory of the Allied powers against the Axis, or the bloody struggle on the fields of Flanders and Ypres. When Ebola strikes West Africa, or migrant boats capsize in the Mediterranean, our troops are there. They are securing our borders, deterring our enemies, acting as a force for good in the world.

Today, the challenges faced by our Armed Forces are not just external. The Labour Party has elected a leader who has no understanding of, or sympathy for, the military – indeed, who has actively condemned almost every action taken by Britain’s soldiers, sailors and airmen from the Falklands onwards. The Conservatives have promised to protect defence spending, and that is welcome news. But the previous Strategic Defence and Security Review pared back capacity to the bone, and great care will need to be taken in its forthcoming successor to ensure that the military emerges stronger rather than weaker from the exercise.

The need to maintain a strong military is not just a question of stature on the world stage. It is because of the capacity of that military, demonstrated time and again over the decades, to act as a sword and shield not just for our own citizens but for those around the globe. Weaken Britain’s power to act in the world and you make that world a worse-off place.

The phrase most often associated with the rites and rituals of remembrance – taken from the refrain of Kipling’s Recessional – is “lest we forget”. The nation falls silent on Remembrance Sunday, and Armistice Day too, as a tribute to the sacrifice of Britons and their allies from all walks of life. We cannot and should not forget them. But remembrance is not a dead thing, a matter of venerating and memorialising the past, it is a living one.

In years to come, there will be new heroes to remember, new casualties to mourn. If not, it will mean that Britain has retreated from the world – and then, and only then, would we truly have forgotten and forsaken the memory and the legacy of the dead.

This is a time to remember what they fought for. That is all the more important given what is happening in the world today There will be new heroes to remember, new casualties to mourn. If not, it will mean that Britain has retreated from the world