At Sunset ‘We will remember them.’

Here’s a photo taken by me last Saturday evening. By appearance, the sunset was nothing out of the ordinary; nevertheless it was beautiful. I felt an atmosphere of calm and peace as the sun gradually sank beyond the horizon. I was alone at my favourite place beside the River Crouch. All of this splendour was there solely for my enjoyment.


For me, sunsets are always special. When I was a nipper, I used to take a walk to the brow of hill on a fine summer’s evening. From there I could watch the changing hues; blues to purples, golden crimson and streaks of orange; finally an oval, white-hot shimmering blob would slip beyond the dark rim of the encroaching night.


One evening I did not understand what was happening. The sky was a fiery, scarlet glow of spattered blood. There was a droning, moaning from overhead. Hundreds of black Dakotas towing gliders, their wings outstretched like birds of prey, steadily moved in formation. When they had passed, there was an eerie silence. Brave men were on their way to give their lives for the cause of freedom and their kin; for helpless babes, children, men and women, for justice, truth and all mankind.


This I now know. I shall never forget their sacrifice. I shall never pay the debt I owe. For them it was their death and the gift of life; a life that I treasure, a life so full and free. No other man could have lived like me, for by God’s grace He has set me free.


Shortly after the retreat from Mons and the battle of Marne during the Great War, Robert Laurence Binyon wrote his poignant poem, ‘For the Fallen’. One verse sums up my gratitude to those who fell.


'They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.'


These moving words are said on November 11th every year at ceremonies commemorating the brave and the selfless who fell during the First and Second World Wars, and in more recent times, at the Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan.


Sadly, we never learn. We encourage evil and reject the only remedy. (John 15:12-17)



Links



Laurence Binyon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Binyon


Remembrance Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day


Remembrance Day

http://bills-log.blogspot.com/2009/11/remembrance-day.html


Dakotas towing Gliders – archive film

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=52632


38 Group – List of Men Killed in Glider Assaults

http://www.pegasusarchive.org/arnhem/order_raf.htm


A Photo of Dakotas towing Gliders

http://ww2db.com/image.php?image_id=7030


Battle of Mons

http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/mons.htm


First Battle of Marne

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWmarne.htm