Moved To Tears

I have just finished watching the special service from the cenotaph in London marking the 90th anniversary since the guns fell silent at the end of the Great War.

The three survivors of that awful conflict were there and, thank God, the sun shone on them and the weather remained dry. Henry Allingham aged one hundred and twelve years, Harry patch who is one hundred and ten today and William Stone who is one hundred and eight. I was moved to tears at the sight of Henry Allingham, the eldest of them, insisting on laying his own wreath and struggling to do so from the confines of his wheelchair.

It was wonderful to see the public applauding these three grand old men. What memories they must have held in their minds of all their comrades who did not come back. The whole service was conducted beautifully and with great dignity. Letters were read from soldiers who had fought and died in the trenches, old songs were sung. It was deeply moving.

All over the world today services are being held in remembrance. Let us never forget. Those we called the enemy lost countless thousands as well. They had families, friends, people who loved them. War is so senseless. Nobody wins a war. It is simply that one side loses more than the other.

So I thought of all the troops from all countries, our allies from the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and all the Commonwealth countries, but I also thought of the opposing forces and all their losses.

If only war could become a thing of the past, if only we could all live in peace and harmony. I can only hope and pray that one day, maybe long into the future, that day will come.

Today, I salute all our troops, those long gone and those serving right now. I thank them for their courage and their sacrifice, their dedication to duty and to Country.

God bless them all.

If you want the old battalion,
We know where they are, we know where they are,
We know where they are,
If you want the old battalion, we know where they are,
They're hanging on the old barbed wire,
We've seen them, we've seen them,
Hanging on the old barbed wire,
We've seen them, we've seen them,
Hanging on the old barbed wire.

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And when they ask us, how dangerous it was,
Oh, we'll never tell them, no, we'll never tell them:
We spent our pay in some cafe,
And fought wild women night and day,
'Twas the cushiest job we ever had.

And when they ask us,
And they're certainly going to ask us,
The reason why we didn't win the Croix de Guerre,
Oh, we'll never tell them, oh, we'll never tell them
There was a front, but damned if we knew where.

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Gassed last night and gassed the night before,
Going to get gassed tonight if we never get gassed any more.
When we're gassed we're sick as we can be,
'Cos phosgene and mustard gas is much too much for me.
They're warning us, they're warning us,
One respirator for the four of us,
Thank your lucky stars that three of us can run,
So one of us can use it all alone.

Three of the songs from World War One.