Sir, – A hundred years ago at 5am – on the morning of November 11 1918 – an armistice was signed in a railway carriage parked in a French forest near the front lines and hostilities were stopped on the entire front at precisely 11am.
Minds were numbed by the shock of peace after four years of unimaginably bloody conflict, little knowing that barely 21 years later, another ghastly conflict would engulf the world with all its horrors.
The men who fought in the trenches would go on to see their sons called upon to defend our nation, this time against the evils of Nazism and the merciless Imperialism of Japan.
It is almost impossible now to imagine what the people of our nation felt when war again became inevitable, particularly with the devastating and bitter memories of the First World War, but without doubt at that time uncommon courage, perseverance and fortitude were to become common virtues.
However, it is for the men who gave their lives that we give remembrance.
Of all the noble qualities that can be attributed to the fallen it is for sacrifice that these men should be honoured.
Robert Leckie, a Second World War US marine, wrote: “It is to sacrifice that men go to war. They do not go to kill, they go to be killed, to risk their flesh by inserting their precious persons in the path of destruction and evil… sacrifice is eternal.”
On Armistice Day we should reflect on these words and think of those who made the ultimate sacrifice with gratitude and pride.
Iain G Richmond.
Guildy House,
Monikie.
Remembrance must include all
Sir, – It was interesting to discuss remembrance with one of the kids I tutor.
She told me that her school event was run as an act of Christian worship.
She is a thoughtful girl and is aged 13.
Keen to take the minute’s silence seriously, she reported having been distracted and a little annoyed by a religious framework which meant nothing to her.
As we dearly hope that remembrance will last for another 100 years it is clear we must now strive to find an inclusive format which is not chained to the esoteric and diminishing fortunes of one minority religious belief.
Neil Barber.
Saughtonhall Drive,
Edinburgh.
Men of the 51st deserve better
Sir, – The centenary of the 1918 Armistice quite reasonably focuses the attention of this year’s Remembrance events on the First World War.
An episode of Channel 4 series Dunkirk – The Forgotten Heroes, however, dealt with the shamefully neglected memory of the sacrifices made in 1940 by the soldiers of the 51st Highland Division.
Composed mainly of Highland regiments but including a number of Lowland and English units, the 51st was detached from the rest of the British Expeditionary Force and placed under French command as part of the Maginot Line to emphasise co-operation between the two armies.
When the German troops bypassed the Line by advancing through the Ardennes Forest and through Belgium, the 51st were sent rapidly north to join the French 9th Division near Abbeville with orders from Churchill to fight to the last to delay a French surrender and allow the British Army to escape and regroup.
The troops were not told about the Dunkirk evacuation.
After the town was literally blown apart by air and artillery weapons the Division and its French colleagues found themselves trapped in a diminishing pocket of land around the small coastal town of St Valery en Caux where they came under fire from land and air.
Having lost their heavy equipment during the retreat they were trying to fight off tanks and infantry with bren guns and rifles
Eventually with his troops out of ammunition, Major General Fortune was forced to surrender to Rommel.
Disobeying Whitehall, Admiral James had sent a flotilla of small ships to attempt an evacuation but, unlike Dunkirk, there were no beaches, only cliffs.
After several days lying offshore, being attacked by dive bombers and coastal guns, the ships heard of the surrender and returned to Portsmouth.
Eleven thousand men would spend five years of captivity in eastern Germany or in Poland, many being put to work on farms or in salt mines. In addition over 1,000 were killed in action and 500 wounded.
The 51st was rebuilt using territorial and training units and went on to fight with distinction in North Africa and Italy, but the achievement of their predecessors has been almost airbrushed from history.
As the programme’s narrator stated: “Their courage and sacrifice never received official recognition and no campaign medal has ever been awarded”.
On the main staircase of Dundee’s City Chambers there is a framed photograph of a stained glass window of a church in St Valery dedicated to the 51st, but they and their exploits are now largely forgotten at home.
They deserve better.
Ken Guild.
Brown Street,
Broughty Ferry.
Titanic poster not so rare
Sir, – I read in a newspaper report a couple of weeks ago that one of the rarest Titanic posters in existence was to be auctioned.
The poster advertises the return voyage from New York to Southampton that would have taken place on April 20 1912 had the liner not struck an iceberg and sank in the north Atlantic on the night of April 15.
Due to the tremendous loss of life, Cunard and travel companies destroyed any posters they had advertising the return voyage out of respect for the 1,503 lives that were lost in the disaster.
Hence, there are thought to be hardly any left in existence.
This particular Titanic poster was auctioned on October 20 and sold to a private collector for £62,000.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I visited the exhibition, Ocean Liners, Speed & Style, at the V&A Dundee on Sunday.
In the first room of exhibits I came face to face with the exact same original Titanic poster advertising the return voyage from New York to Southampton on April 20 1912.
It transpires that there are at least two of these posters in existence, and one of them is currently hanging on the wall of the V&A, Dundee.
Now there’s a surprise.
Iain Williams.
18 Market Street,
Edinburgh.
Time for a site six rethink
Sir, – This week we learnt that the council’s development convener Lynne Short has defended the site six steel-framed box (“Trust warns of more ‘steel-framed boxes’”, Courier, November 5).
She has encouraged people to remain positive, saying: “It is not necessarily about the buildings but about the opportunity for the city”.
Yet architectural design has a far more significant impact on people than she believes.
As Zaha Hadid observes: “Architecture is really about wellbeing. I think that people want to feel good in a space. On the one hand it’s about shelter, but it’s also about pleasure.”
Meanwhile, Frank Lloyd Wright noted: “If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished.”
The Civic Trust is warning about more steel-framed boxes on the waterfront.
Time then to listen and rethink?
Mary Thomas.
15 Rosewood Terrace, Dundee.
Learn from the continent
Sir, – Continuous care delivery needs health care providers to lead patients smoothly through a chain of care that includes a number of professionals, departments and organisations.
Each of these are necessary for the provision of quality care at the right time and in the right place.
Yet this process is complex.
We are not alone in having difficulties.
Hospitals in Sweden, Austria and Holland also used to struggle with bed-blocking.
However, their flexible health services managed to overcome the issue by setting up departments or areas that specifically handle bed-blockers.
Sadly many of our problems stem from the vast, monolithic nature of the NHS.
The best European services (generally seen to be those in France and Germany) are unencumbered by the division, demarcation, political ill-will and sheer bloody-mindedness that continues to exist between the UK’s private and public sector.
Rev Dr John Cameron.
10 Howard Place,
St Andrews.