LETTER: They’re not just statistics...

November is the time of the year when the nation particularly comes together to remember those who served and made the ultimate sacrifice. The Royal British Legion is the national custodian of Remembrance, but at a personal level, just what does Remembrance mean?
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Two Sussex Weald Branch members, Ken Hall and David Gething, offer their thoughts on different times and different conflicts.

Ken Hall: ‘For me on a personal level, remembrance is about my uncle, George Chambers. He willingly signed on the dotted line for the RAF Volunteer Reserve in September 1940.

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Just over two years later he arrived at RAF Linton on Ouse in Yorkshire, fully trained as a Wireless Operator / Air Gunner, part of a seven man crew on a Halifax, one of the RAF’s new four engined bombers.

After all that waiting and training, he survived just 11 days on the Squadron, and was shot down over Montcony in France, en route to bomb Genoa docks. This was so typical of the time, so much so, that the more experienced crews on the squadron often did not befriend the new crews as they were not likely to be around for long.

Although I never met him, we are lucky in a way to know where the plane crashed and where he is buried. In Montcony there is a memorial at the crash site and all of the crew are buried in the nearby churchyard. The graves are beautifully looked after and every year there is a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the crash.

This year I will attend the ceremony along with my mother, father, wife and son. A 1,000 mile round trip and a very real and personal act of Remembrance for us. We know he will never be forgotten.’

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Flight Lieutenant David Gething, currently serving in the Royal Air Force: ‘When I was young, remembrance was the annual rigmarole of having to parade through Cowfold with the Scouts and then sit through a church service.

As I got older (and joined the Air Training Corps), understanding began to dawn and I could appreciate Remembrance Sunday as a day to honour the memory of those who had died fighting to defend my country, albeit with a subconscious focus on the Second Wold War – that being the conflict that, due to a diet of war films and wargaming, featured largest in my awareness.

Fast forward several years and I’m now an RAF Officer with 11 years’ service and five Operation TELIC/HERRICK (Iraq/Afghanistan) tours under my belt; unsurprisingly, my thoughts on what remembrance means to me have evolved somewhat over the intervening years.

Due largely to the somewhat ‘blunt’ nature of my work and that of most of my service friends and colleagues, I am fortunate enough not to have known anyone killed in our recent operations.

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However, I have spent two of my tours working in close proximity to the hospital Helicopter Landing Site at Camp Bastion, hearing every casualty evacuation helicopter come and go, which serves to remind you that there are still people getting hurt beyond the relative safety of Bastion.

I’d attend the vigil services for British fatalities whenever I could, which sadly seemed to be an almost weekly occurrence on previous tours, although thankfully much reduced during my latest tour this summer.

Hearing the eulogies delivered by the deceaseds’ friends brings things home to you; they’re not just statistics, or names in the paper. Of course, being in theatre, especially when working with the other nationalities out there, you realise that it’s not just the Brits; the US in particular (due to their much larger numbers) are suffering a steady stream of casualties, as are the other troop contributing nations, such as the Georgians, Danes, Estonians and Slovaks to name but a few.

Upon return to my day-to-day UK duties, often not focused on Op HERRICK, it’s easy to forget what’s going on there. Remembrance Sunday (and 11 Nov, when not the same day) offers a chance to pause and reflect, not just on abstract conflicts from way before I was born, but on conflicts that I have played a small part in, that are still very much ongoing, and that continue to claim their toll.’

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Sussex Weald Branch, Royal British Legion provides comradeship, remembrance, support and welfare across the generations and in this area. You don’t have to have served to join the Legion. You just have to care enough to support.

Join us and care.

Contact branch secretary Mike Alderson. Email [email protected]

MIKE ALDERSON

Deputy County Rep (Sussex) for the Riders Branch, the Secretary of the Sussex Weald Branch of the RBL (Bolney, Cowfold, Henfield, Partridge Green and surrounding areas) and Chairman of the regional RBL group (Billingshurst, Slinfold, Warnham, Sussex Weald, Crawley, Horsham, Lowfield Heath), Chichester Terrace, Horsham

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