07/06/2024
As the sun gently rises over our village, Stuart and I feel the gentle pull of tradition and memory. Here, amidst the tranquil singing of the birds and sun creating its gentle, rippling shadows through the trees and on to our fields, we pause to remember the significance of today and the 80 year anniversary of D-Day, not as distant history, but as a thread woven into the fabric of our community.
In our village, standing proudly on the hill, overlooking our community, is the memorial that reminds us daily of the sacrifice that our community (and so many other communities throughout our fine country) made all those years ago. Men, some still just boys, who left for distant shores, leaving behind the comfort and safety of familiar faces and the warmth of home in order to protect the life that we now enjoy. For Stuart and I these are strangers; people not directly connected to us but yet to whom we owe such a debt of gratitude. Men and women who experienced unfathomable conditions, and many who did not return having done so. Men who gave their lives, mothers and fathers who gave their sons, children who gave their fathers, their brothers, their friends and they gave them, painfully, for the freedom that we now sometimes take for granted. Well today, Stuart and I ponder on their sacrifice with gratitude. We thank too those who returned but who will no doubt have carried the burden of remembering.
Today, as we sit here beneath this hazy sunlight, surrounded by the comforting, peaceful beauty of this beautiful village, we honor their courage and resilience, not with grand gestures, but with quiet reverence and gratitude. For in the simple act of remembering, we keep alive the memory of those who gave their all for the freedoms we hold dear.
So, let us linger a little longer in the connection of community today, as we remember our heroes and our countries shared history and reaffirm our commitment to honoring their legacy, today and always.
So today at The White Lion we are saying thank you to all those who gave service in WW2 but not forgetting our gratitude too to those brave individuals who gave, or are still giving, service for our country.
To those brave souls who have encountered unfathomable terrors so that we, the general public, can live freely and safely today.
(Photo credit: Ash Village Archives)
