At 11am today, there was an important act of remembrance and service at the Godalming Town War Memorial besides Godalming Minster Church Street. The public gathered alongside representatives of the military, emergency services, those in civic and council service, town representatives and the British Legion gathered to commemorate the terrible sacrifices on D-Day, 6th June 1944.
The mayor of Godalming, Cllr Paul Rivers gave the exhortation and there was a chill in the spine as the bugle sounded and the union flag was slowly lowered. It was a time to stand together across faiths and backgrounds, whether spiritual, religious or otherwise. As we stood as one, 80 years ago at that moment, the World was being changed by individuals who banded together and died where people now sunbathe. As the Minster’s representative for the town, I had the humbling privilege of leading this service.
I shared a recollection from a young man who had staggered ashore 80 years ago. His abiding memory was “what upset me most were all the dead soldiers in the sea, one of which had his pay book hanging out. Funny how you remember some of the little things.”
When we think of the sweep of history or the enormity of events, we can easily forget that every person is created by God. There are no little things, or insignificant people in the losses of sacrifice. Every sacrifice in fighting for peace is a momentous one that sends shivers through time.
My second thought was from the words that opened the D-Day operation. A single person in a radio booth in England gave this message across the BBC “Wound my heart with a monotonous Languor.”
These words were had previously been written by a 22 year old poet, Paul Verlaine, to reflect the sadness of growing old. At 23:15 hours on June 5th they were the coded message to the French Resistance that the invasion was about to being.
What does sacrifice look like? A 22-year-old wrote a poem about not wanting to grow old, and here it was being used to announce that thousands of young people would never grow old. Sacrifice is each of them stepping ashore in a World of turmoil and bloodshed knowing that they were fighting for lasting, just peace against evil.
The poem continues “All breathless And pale, when The hour sounds, I remember The old days And I cry;” Today, we are called to cry.
Crying like this is an ancient Christian sign of lament, and it is perhaps something lost in a modern, fast paced World. Crying for lost youth, families broken by war, nations destroyed for generations, borders that become places of conflict rather than connection; and today, a cry to remember sacrifice and to live as people and communities so that we are worthy of the man whose pay book hung from his pocket as he lay in the tide.
Let us live worthy lives in honour of their sacrifice.
With particular thanks to Councillor Paul Rivers, Mayor of Godalming and consort Cllr Penny Rivers; Paul Follows, Leader of the Council and Armed Forces Champion, Flt Lieutenant Poulter of 154 Squadron; Dave Sargent of Godalming Band; Neil Godden for the Emergency Services; Fiona Jenkins of the British Legion and Andy Jeffrey of Godalming Town Council.