(Henley)
(Con):...My second experience is with the
town of Thame, which started a project a couple of years ago to lay
a Thame cross—it is like the cross of Lorraine—on the grave of
every soldier killed in acts of conflict since the first world war.
The people of Thame have done this, and that has included marine
graves, where they have sent divers down to place the cross on the
grave. So far over 300 people have travelled 150,000 miles to lay a
cross on the graves of 212 people who lost their lives.
I was very privileged to be able to do this for Second Lieutenant
Richard Hewer, who had fought in the battle of Jaffa and was
observing for the infantry at the attack on Jerusalem when he was
killed. His body lies in the cemetery in Jerusalem, and I went to
it and laid the cross on his grave. And I pay tribute to those
who look after our cemeteries; the cemetery is absolutely
immaculate, and that made the experience of going there to lay
this cross all the more telling and emotional.
If anyone is looking for an organisation that, alongside
NATO, has helped to keep the peace in Europe over this time, they
need look no further than the Council of Europe. I sincerely hope
that it will rise to the challenge again in the future. It is
unusual in having both the Israelis and the Palestinians on it,
but it has not yet made a great effort to try to get them to engage
in peacemaking rather than simply standing up and posing their
usual views when they speak...
(Chelmsford)
(Con):...I also want to remember another group.
Chelmsford has a long history of Quakerism. Quakers are members
of a peace church who take a moral stand against participation in
armed conflict. At the beginning of the first world war, a group
of young Quakers created the Friends’ Ambulance Unit. Its 1,200
members were all civilians, but they worked closely with fighting
soldiers. The unit provided those conscientious objectors with a
way to support the wounded, and an alternative to military
service. They worked on the frontlines providing medical support
for troops and civilians, and on hospital ships in the channel
and the Mediterranean. They cared for everyone they found
wounded, including Germans. By November 1918, 21 members of the
Friends’ Ambulance Unit had given their own lives. In 1947, the
Quakers were awarded the Nobel peace prize. Even today, Quakers
act as ecumenical accompaniers, working in Israel and
Palestine to provide a protective presence and to monitor and
report human rights abuses. They wear brightly coloured jackets
to accompany children to school across the battle zones. Jesus
said,
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life
for his friends”
but he also said,
“Blessed are the peacemakers”
and we must remember them, too. We must remember them all...
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