He came to mind this week as turn to the eightieth anniversary of VE Day. Those with direct memories of fighting in the Second World War are increasingly few; a handful will gather at the Cenotaph in Wakefield on 8 May. Only those older than my own parents now remember the War at all. And I must have been about seventeen when my grandfather died; the younger generations won’t have much chance to hear, as I did, directly from those who were there.
Remembering is complex and gets harder the more distant the event becomes. Indeed, even marking Victory in Europe is complicated; the war itself of course would run on in the Pacific and Far East for several months. But the best way now of remembering is to try and honour the legacy that generation fought, and in many cases died, to hand on to us. As King George VI, the King’s grandfather, said in the victory broadcast, Let us turn our thoughts to this day of just triumph and proud sorrow, and then take up our work again, resolved as a people to do nothing unworthy of those who died for us, and to make the world such a world as they would have desired for their children and for ours.
In taking up our work again we would build on the foundations they fought for, as we give thanks to God for their suffering and sacrifice.
Philip Hobday
Wakefield Cathedral