armed forces day

Today we gather to commemorate and remember two very important events in the life of our country, firstly the events that took place over the 5^th/6^th June, 1944, the Allied ‘D Day’ landings on the coast of Normandy, which ensured the end of the Second World War, and the newly created Armed Forces Day, which gives us, and everyone in this country an opportunity to give thanks to God for the commitment and sacrifice of the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces, and also those who have served this country in the past, our Veterans.

The events of the 5^th/6^th June, 1944, started many months before with meticulous planning at Southwick Park, on the downs above Portsmouth, where General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, had his SHAEF Headquarters.  I visited Southwick Park a couple of years ago while at Army Camp on Salisbury Plains.  The original maps and plans are still there on the walls in the Officer’s Mess and it’s a strange feeling really to look at all this memorabilia and realise that it would all change the course of history.

‘We cannot afford to fail’. These were the words of Eisenhower, in the run up to ‘D Day’. Failure would give Hitler the opportunity to initiate a protracted assault by his new V weapons against British cities and perhaps force a negotiated peace. Success meant the beginning of the end of the terror of the Nazi regime which had engulfed Europe for 4 years.

The original date for ‘D day’ was set for 5^th June, and in the lead up Operation Fortitude carried out one of the biggest deceptions in modern history by creating the impression that the expected invasion would take place in the Pas de Calais area, the most obvious and shortest distance across the channel, and clearly that worked in support of the invading forces, even though resistance by the Germans was bloody and determined. If it hadn’t worked the outcome of D Day might have been different.

The weather conditions forecast for the 5^th June predicted the worst storms in the channel for 20 years, and so it all had to be postponed, which may not sound much to us, but for the men who had trained and prepared for this for many months and were now cupped up on ships and waiting for the off, it must have been tortuous.

Then came the forecast that there would be a window of fine weather over the night and day of the 5^th/6^th June, and so it was. The first Gliderborne troops landed on the soil of Normandy near to Pegasus Bridge at 16 minutes past midnight and within 10 minutes the men of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Regiment had secured that bridge and at Ronville.  So began the invasion of Europe.

I am sure most of us are familiar with the film ‘The Longest Day’, made from the book about ‘D Day’, written by Cornelius Ryan.  The term ‘The Longest Day’ came from Rommel who warned his troops that it would be their longest day in trying to stop the invasion force. It became ‘The Longest Day’ for those Allied Forces taking part as well. Sadly for some the Longest Day would become their last day.

On that first day, 73,000 Americans, 61,715 British, 21,400 Canadians, took part, a total of 156,115 Allied troops, which included 23,400 Airborne Troops, 11590 aircraft, and 6939 ships and other vessels. At least 2700 British troops died that day. By D + 5 on the 11^th June, 326,547 Allied Troops, including Polish Forces and Free French, 54,186 vehicles and 104,428 tonnes of equipment had landed in Normandy.  D day was the start of The Battle of Normandy, which lasted until the end of August, and saw some of the most fiercest and intense fighting since the First World War, with 17,769 British, 5003 Canadian, 650 Poles, 9386 Americans killed.  All lying in War Cemeteries scattered over the Normandy countryside. In total there were 209,000 Allied Casualties during the campaign.  The Germans suffered 77,866 dead but the total number of their casualties was never revealed.

Five years ago, on the 60^th Anniversary, when thousands of Veterans and their families returned to Normandy to commemorate this special day, it was said that there would not be another official commemoration as the Veterans were getting too old, but two weekends ago, our Veterans proved the authorities wrong and those that were able, returned to the beaches and battlefields of Normandy to remember fallen comrades, proving it wasn’t just a French/American do, as had been suggested by the French President!!

It was wonderful to see so many young people, including Cadets from the three services there, taking part, a symbolic gesture that our young people have now taken up the challenge to continue to honour all those who fought in that campaign which led to freedom for Europe and our freedom today.

Armed Forces Day has been created to enable our country to pay tribute to the men and women serving in our Armed Forces today, and the Veterans who have served in the past.  Armed Forces Day is not replacing Remembrance Day, far from it, it’s a totally different concept, it’s a day to celebrate and pay tribute to our service men and women, from the youngest recruit to the oldest Veteran, who is of course, Henry Allingham, who was 113 on June 6^th, and served in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War, closely followed by Harry Patch, who was 111 last Wednesday, the 17^th June.  Harry fought in the Battle of Passchendale in Ypres, an experience that has shaped his long life since.

The concept of Armed Forces Day is long overdue because we British have a different attitude towards our soldiers, sailor’s and airmen and women to most other countries. The concept of Veterans Day has been part of American life for many years, Veterans are revered and honoured. Frankly if it wasn’t for the Royal British Legion and regimental and service charities, veterans in our country would have come off pretty badly, and still do to a certain extent, and I speak from my experience of being County Secretary for SSAFA for the past 10 years.

In the past we have paid little regard to our Armed Forces, and only valued their personal contribution to our country and its freedom during conflicts. Kipling summed it up for us some 100 years ago in his poem Tommy.

“While it’s Tommy this, and Tommy that, an ‘Tommy, fall be’ind, But its ‘Please to walk in front, sir’, when there’s trouble in the wind. There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in the wind, O it’s ‘Please to walk in front, sir’, when there’s trouble in the wind”

“For it’s Tommy this, an Tommy that, an ‘Chuck him out, the brute!’ But it’s ‘Saviour of ‘is country’ when the guns begin to shoot; An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please; An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool, you bet that Tommy sees!”

We don’t need Armed Forces Day to keep alive our patriotism or our sense of national identity, and in celebrating our Armed Forces today, we don’t honour war or the effects it on so many lives. Frankly war is a terrible thing, destructive, damaging and evil, but a day such as this reminds us that in the midst of so much in our world today that is shallow and inconsequential, there are men and women who by their actions display the highest human conditions of courage; loyalty; obedience; comradeship; generosity of spirit; self-giving; friendship and love for others.

Many who have served have made the supreme sacrifice, and those serving today know only too well they may have to make the same sacrifice in the cause of freedom, many more have suffered physical and mental injuries, and will continue to bear those scars throughout their lives.  It’s a sobering and distressing fact that since the end of the Second World War this country has only experienced two years when our Armed Forces have not been involved in conflict of one sort or another, and suffered loss of life in the process.

We have a visible and vivid reminder of the cost of our peace and freedom in this county in The National Forces Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas. There you will find engraved over 16,000 names of the service men and women who have given their lives since 1945 in campaigns, conflicts and acts of terrorism. Korea, Suez, Aden, Cyprus, Malaya, Northern Ireland, the Falklands, the two Iraq wars and Afghanistan, and other conflicts we have forgotten about. Sadly the National Forces Memorial is a living memorial because as we loose men and women in Afghanistan and in future conflicts, their names will be added.

Our servicemen and women today display the same qualities as those who embarked on the greatest invasion force ever assembled to liberate Europe 65 years ago, and are prepared to make the same sacrifices they did. 

Whether, we as individuals, support the recent war in Iraq and the continuing war in Afghanistan or not is frankly irrelevant, just the same as whether the Armed Forces support the war or not is irrelevant, they have a job to do and sign on to do that job, therefore we as a country, who vote our government in owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the brave men and women who fought and continue to fight on our behalf, and we should do all we can to support them and their families who wait anxiously for their safe return.

We in this town showed our support for our Armed Forces when 22 Signal Regiment returned from Afghanistan earlier this year, and took great pride in having 16 MU here for over 60 years, but it isn’t the same everywhere.  Remember the objections from the residents near to Hedley Court, the Armed Forces Rehabilitation Centre, where our injured men and women go to recover, when SSAFA proposed buying a house so that relatives could be near their loved ones.  They were concerned that having such a place would drive down the price of their homes. The bravery of our Armed Forces is beyond price.

The taking of human life has always been difficult for Christians to justify, it is after all contrary to our Lord’s teaching, but we would be fooling ourselves if we thought that as a nation we can manage without the Armed Forces to safeguard our peace and freedom, and to bring peace and freedom to other countries who are oppressed. Not until the world learns to live in peace and gives freedom to all and an end to oppression.

In paying tribute to our Armed Forces today we recognise our needs and our dependence on their willingness to protect our way of life, we open our eyes to see the rich pattern of activity that keeps us secure and at peace, and in their sacrifice made on our behalf, we see a visible and tangible reminder of how high a price humans will pay for the benefit of others.

But in honouring our Armed Forces and the Veterans who served, as Christians we must be determined to bring about that peace which our Lord Jesus Christ offered us, and learn new ways of building a better world, where conflict and aggression is behind us.  That surely would be the best memorial they could have.

Former US President Jimmy Carter, in accepting the Nobel Peace Prize said, ‘We cannot build peaceful relationships by killing each others children’, and that surely is right, we must work for peace. Most of those among you who have seen active service, and those serving today, would probably not have thought that you were trying to bring about a new world order, where love for one another was the keystone to bring peace, but in truth until we accept and obey God’s commandment, ‘to love one another’, which is not purely a Christian principal, but the embodiment of all the great world religions, we will never develop fully as human beings and will live with the futility and pity of war and conflict, generation after generation.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu famously said, Goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, light is stronger than darkness, life is stronger than death, victory is ours through Christ who loved us’.

We do not salute our Armed Forces and the bravery of those who are prepared to serve to preserve our fragile peace by simply patting them on the back or handing out a disability or widows pension to those who suffer most.  Their bravery on our behalf raises real moral questions for us as a nation. There is a covenant between those who serve and the government at any time. By being prepared to pay the ultimate sacrifice or to suffer injury for our sakes means they keep their side of the covenant, government must ensure that it keeps it’s side of the bargain, nothing less is acceptable, and then Armed Forces Day will truly be a day of thanksgiving and celebration.  Amen