Remembrance

Today we all celebrate the memory of the millions of our people who gave everything on the behalf of us all in all the wars that are the cruel price of democracy. Many died, almost too many to count, and even more were horribly maimed for the rest of their lives, and this continues today.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month the guns fell silent to signal the end of the carnage of the First World War, in the year 1918, now 90 years ago, but still remembered. Many millions of people died, and since that terrible war have come others, including the Second World War, in which uncountable hundreds of millions more died and suffered.

I am proud, very proud, of the part my countrymen and women played in the wars and conflicts over the last century. My country might not always have been right, but we remember the outstanding and unbending bravery of the people who served their country and the pursuit and protection of liberty so well.

From the battlefields of the Somme to Dieppe to the Falklands, Malaysia and now Iraq and Afghanistan and thousands of nameless other places our servicemen and women sacrificed their lives so that we could enjoy our future, comfortable in our freedom.

If we are ever to try and avoid the disasters of the future we must learn from the dreadful mistakes of the past. But while we recognize the negative we must never lose sight of the magnificence of the lions that were the best of us. We thank them now and forever.