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Remembrance Day — Armistice Day — is Saturday, November 11, 2023.
On Saturday and the following day, Remembrance Sunday, when the official wreath-laying and parade take place at the Cenotaph in London’s Whitehall, the UK will be commemorating the war dead of the First World War as well as those of the Second World War and subsequent conflicts. We will also be remembering surviving veterans and active servicemen and servicewomen.
For Britons, these are sacred yet secular days with national and local ceremonies around the Cenotaph or the many war memorials around our great nation.
This year, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has begun a new project, For Evermore: Stories of the Fallen, inviting the public to tell the story of a veteran they knew or loved from anywhere in the Commonwealth.
It is gratifying to see that they have several stories and photos submitted already. May we always remember the valour and courage of these brave men and women.
It is difficult to put into words how much these two days mean to the British and those living elsewhere in the Commonwealth. Therefore, to see any desecration or disrespect surrounding the war dead, veterans or their attendant ceremonies is a heinous insult.
Vandalism not entirely new
In 2023, protesters have vandalised the war memorial in Rochdale, Lancashire. This has shocked the nation — and rightly so.
On Tuesday, November 7, the Mail reported (emphases mine):
Police are standing guard in Rochdale tonight after the town’s war memorial was daubed with ‘Free Palestine‘ graffiti – just days before Armistice Day.
Locals have expressed their outrage, with many blaming pro-Palestine supporters in the area, with the monument repeatedly targeted in recent days.
Vandals stripped Remembrance Day poppies from the cenotaph at the Esplanade in the town centre yesterday.
And earlier this week, a man was filmed removing Palestinian flags from the monument and propping up wreaths which had been thrown to the ground.
Police tape has been pictured around the monument this evening and Community Support Officers are standing guard, adding to already increased patrols following the spate of incidents.
One local man made a video of the desecrated cenotaph and said:
I told you guys this was going to happen.
The article has a statement from Rochdale Borough Council:
‘This is totally unacceptable and is also being investigated by police. The graffiti will be removed as soon as we are able to.
‘As we said in our initial response – we are proud of our strong links with our armed forces community.
‘Our war memorials and monuments are incredibly important and should be respected by everyone at all times.’
The article ends with this:
Greater Manchester Police have been contacted for comment.
I bet the Mail are still awaiting a reply.
However, the desecration of war memorials is, sadly, nothing new.
In 2022, this happened in Edinburgh. Tom Harris, a Scot and former MP, wrote about it on Tuesday, November 15 that year for The Telegraph, ‘The desecration of war memorials marks a society in utter decline’:
It is quite possible that the desecration of the Edinburgh war memorial was simply the latest example of an age-old problem: vandals’ eternal obsession with causing damage for its own sake. Every era has witnessed it. People defying authority to disrupt the system and sticking it to The Man. It was always pointless and destructive, but in most cases it was a phase that would pass.
Nevertheless, the timing of this attack, coming hours after wreaths were laid in a solemn ceremony to honour our glorious dead, has accentuated a sense that we are losing any notion of shared and sacred spaces where divisions are overcome. In this age of interminable culture wars, there are few traditions and institutions which have escaped the shadow of societal division. In recent years, even the simple act of wearing a red poppy has come under fire, and not just from those who prefer to signal their pacifist virtue by sporting a white poppy.
A few years ago, I turned up at my local TV studios to take part in a televised discussion on some issue or other and, spying a newly-opened box of poppies in reception, forked out a couple of quid and placed one in my lapel. Even I, a former Scottish MP and an inured combatant in the political battles over independence, was taken aback by the vitriol I then encountered online after my appearance was over. I was, apparently, a “Britnat” (British nationalist) who was indulging in nostalgia for the remnants of Empire. The wearing of a poppy had become, much to my surprise and annoyance, a partisan political act which said a great deal about the wearer’s views on independence.
Tom Harris reminds us of events in June 2020, a time when law-abiding Britons were at home, locked down. There were to be no gatherings, private or public. Yet, the television news showed us what was going on in London, Bristol and some other cities that month, with little police action being taken:
The problem is that the desecration of monuments is becoming something of a theme in our public life. The statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square and the Cenotaph in Whitehall have both been vandalised by those whose arrogance and entitlement have led them to believe that daubing revered monuments with painted slogans is no more than a conventional expression of democratic protest. Given that the authorities’ reaction to such vandalism is usually no more than a wagging finger, is it surprising that other memorials have come under attack?
Harris points out:
… for society to function properly, we must recognise the need to embrace tradition and to acknowledge that those traditions have their root in laudable and sincere – even sacred – convictions.
Yet talk about respect today seems certain to elicit howls of outrage from the permanently offended. “Tradition” is scapegoated as deference to a privileged minority, or even “colonialism”, especially in reference to the Armed Forces and Britain’s military history.
The Express also featured an article about the desecrated monument — and the finger wagging from officials. It broke my heart to see the photos of the burnt wreaths. Why would anyone do something like this? How could they?
In 2020, two things happened. One was a sin of commission and the other was one of omission.
Taking the latter first, on November 16, the Bank of England lit up the building known as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street for Transgender Awareness Week:
Yet, as Guido Fawkes noted (emphases in red his):
Strangely, after a quick search, Guido couldn’t see any similar lighting efforts to coincide with Remembrance Day…
The more upsetting incident, the sin of commission, occurred a few days beforehand. On November 12, the Mail reported that Extinction Rebellion put up a climate change ‘memorial’ wreath at London’s Cenotaph (more here):
An Extinction Rebellion activist who sparked outrage after protesting at the Cenotaph yesterday has called Remembrance services at the memorial a ‘little ritual’.
Donald Bell, 64, who was a private in the British Army, claimed the government going to the central London landmark every year ‘was a sign of disrespect’.
The bizarre comments were quickly condemned by Good Morning Britain hosts Ben Shephard and Susanna Reid, who said his words would ‘ruffle a number of feathers’.
He was also today blasted by Lord Ridley, whose great grandfather was the architect of the Cenotaph ahead of its unveiling just over a century ago.
Mr Bell and nurse Anne White, 53, sparked fury when they trampled over wreaths and put up a banner saying: ‘Honour Their Sacrifice, Climate Change Means War’.
They held a two-minute silence before hanging their own wreath above ones laid by senior military figures, Royals and politicians.
It took the Metropolitan Police at least half an hour to take his down, despite one of their cars being parked within sight of the monument …
Questions have been raised about the police’s response to the hijacking of the monument – which was attacked during a Black Lives Matter protest in the summer.
Former chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation Glen Smyth said it should not have taken police up to half an hour to react.
He told the Express: ‘Officers should have been much more aware, they really should. It should never have taken them so long to react.
‘Today it was a banner. The next time what might it be? There are a lot of deranged people out there motivated by all sorts of ideologies. You can’t afford to drop your guard.’
The article described the finger wagging that took place:
But the main fury was focused on the Mr Bell and Ms White, as veterans, MPs and the families of fallen soldiers rounded on the demonstrators.
Boris Johnson said the incident ‘on today of all days’ was ‘profoundly disrespectful’ while Sir Keir Starmer branded the protest as ‘wrong’ and ‘in bad taste’.
Tobias Ellwood, who served with the Royal Green Jackets before becoming an MP, said the group was going to ‘alienate’ people.
Understandably, the Royal British Legion could only remind us of what Armistice Day is not about:
Meanwhile the Royal British Legion added that Armistice Day was ‘not for political protest’.
Remember that Royal British Legion response for my next post on Friday, November 10. I could not agree more.
However, Guido Fawkes reported that the police did not remove the Extinction Rebellion wreath from the Cenotaph. They only moved it to a less prominent position. It was left to a Conservative MP to remove it altogether from the monument:
Police initially moved it to a less prominent position this afternoon – a move that was not good enough for one Tory MP who this evening snatched it away altogether. The MP now has the wreath in a bin bag pictured above. The anonymous MP is receiving plaudits from colleagues this evening…
Guido’s subsequent post informed us that the MP was Chris Loder, who represents West Dorset and was elected in 2019:
Loder is passionate about this, half the MP’s tweets this month have been dedicated to remembrance, and the Cenotaph was even built with stone from his own constituency. The 2019 intake MP told Guido:
I could not stand by and watch our Remembrance Day for those who died in war, and to whom we owe so much, be hijacked for a political stunt by this far-left outfit. This was totally wrong, and I believed the wreath should be removed.”
This week, thousands of veterans and members of the armed forces have stayed away from the Cenotaph in our national effort to control coronavirus. For political protestors to take advantage of this situation is disrespectful to our servicemen and women, past and present. I want them to know that I am on their side and will support them all the way.
Well done, Chris Loder!
Poppy wearing has also come under attack in recent years.
In 2009, a longtime employee of Bodycare UK was told to remove her poppy at work. On November 4 that year, The Telegraph reported:
Catherine Barr, an assistant with Bodycare UK for seven years, was astonished when she was ordered to remove the poppy she had worn to work.
“I turned up for work wearing my poppy and was told by management that I couldn’t. I was quite upset and really annoyed, so refused to remove it.”
Mrs Barr, 49, from Hindley, Wigan, said customers in the store in The Galleries shopping centre, Wigan, were equally shocked to see her ordered to remove the emblem.
“I have worn a poppy every year I have worked here, but apparently I shouldn’t have done.”
Because of her refusal an area manager called at the store to inform her it was “against company policy”.
Mrs Barr eventually relented rather than face the prospect of a disciplinary hearing.
But she remains angry about being barred from honouring soldiers who have died in combat. “I can’t imagine a single person would agree with this,” she said.
Local war veterans are saddened by the ban. David Murray, county manager for West Lancashire Royal British Legion, said: “Poppies are there for the remembrance of troops past and present, and it’s always sad when corporate bodies take that sort of stance.”
2023: an indescribably bad Remembrance season
Returning to the present day, in 2023, many of us hope we never again see a Remembrance season like this one.
Brighton banned the sale of poppies on October 17, around the time they would normally appear. The ban included independent stores:
In Edinburgh, a 78-year-old poppy seller, a military veteran, was attacked at Waverley railway station in the city centre on Saturday, November 4, during a pro-Palestine demonstration:
The Telegraph reported on a Mail interview with him:
An elderly poppy seller said he was “punched and kicked” as pro-Palestine protesters staged a sit-in at Edinburgh Waverley train station at the weekend.
Jim Henderson, an Army veteran, left with the help of colleagues after being surrounded by people displaying “Freedom for Palestine” posters.
The 78-year-old said he had “never known anything like it”.
“I was getting shoved backwards, in danger of falling, and one of them stood on my foot and split my toe,” he told the Daily Mail.
“So I thought I had got to get the money out of here. So I went down, and as I bent down someone punched me in the back. And then I got another punch in my side.”
Mr Henderson, who told the Mail he served in the Royal Corps of Signals, 32 Signal Regiment in Northern Ireland, said he managed to get up and leave the station.
In commenting on this incident, Nigel Farage pointed out that the UK is letting people in who do not share British values. However, we have enough Britons who have no use for Remembrance Day or Remembrance Sunday. They are not helping the situation, either:
The situation was similar at Charing Cross Station that evening, although protesters were not as physically violent towards the poppy sellers. Nonetheless, they, too, were surrounded, preventing anyone from approaching them:
In some ways, however, Charing Cross Station had a worse outcome, as it had to close.
The Telegraph‘s Allison Pearson told us ‘When poppy sellers cannot honour the dead, we must take a stand’:
There is one photograph that sums up the whole ghastly mess. Three Royal British Legion volunteers were selling poppies from a stall at London’s Charing Cross station last Saturday when they were surrounded by a Palestinian Solidarity mob, some masked, some waving flags. The volunteers, all older and white British, look dejected, intimidated. What should have been a joyful, patriotic day raising money for veterans ended up with them surrounded by the enemies of patriotism. If the trio had a speech bubble coming out of their mouths, it would have said: “What has become of this country?”
A Telegraph reader who happened to be there emailed: “London was like what I imagine Berlin to have been like in 1935: the only difference being the colour of the flags. The sentiments are the same though: Jew hatred. It is terrifying. Charing Cross station was closed. Why? A fascist mob can prevent decent people having a nice night out, but those who want to get away from the mob can’t because the police closed the station. Why didn’t they clear the mob instead? Since when were things so upside down? This country has become a very sad place to be. Mob rule.”
In Barry, Wales, the Labour-run council banned the town’s Remembrance Day parade because of ‘health and safety considerations’ that ‘cannot be overcome at this late stage’. Shameful:
It’s not as if Remembrance Day comes as a surprise every year. We know when it is and when the next Remembrance Sunday will be months in advance. It is always on the Sunday closer to Remembrance Day itself.
Now we face the probability of a pro-Palestinian protest in London on Saturday, November 11. It seems that, in officialdom, only Home Secretary Suella Braverman wants it stopped. However, according to law, she can intervene only if Sir Mark Rowley, the head of the Metropolitan Police, asks her to do so. Rowley wants the march to go ahead. At other times this week, he has said that there aren’t enough laws to prevent it happening.
Well, I wonder. The Conservatives have introduced more than enough anti-crime measures this year, particularly on protests.
More on the London situation tomorrow.
For now, I — along with tens of millions around the UK and the Commonwealth — will remember Our Glorious Dead on both Saturday and Sunday.
Lest we forget.
Churchmouse Campanologist 