Reverence For The Unknown Soldier

[SquareOne]

I was on holiday this weekend in Brussels, Belgium.  I went for a little break to explore Europe - after all, it's right on my doorstep!  On Monday afternoon I was walking through the city and came across this:

 

 

This is the Belgian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

 

I expect you will all know what such a tomb is, but for those who do not, a Unknown Soldier is an unidentified soldier from a war, usually the First World War, who was killed on the battlefield and never identified.   They are decorated with military honours and given a ceremonial funeral.  They represent all the unknown soldiers who died, and also represent every soldier who died in that war.

 

Like I said.  I came upon this quite by accident.

 

I read it, inscribed.

Un Soldat Inconnu

Mort

Pour La Patria

1914-1918

 

I knew of the British Unknown Soldier, though I have never visited that tomb, so when I read this inscription I knew what I was seeing.  And I was overcome by a really powerful emotion.  A reverence and awe, and sadness, all mixed together.  I felt a choke in my throat.  I felt as though I could cry.  I wanted to kneel and offer some form of words of tribute, but felt somewhat self concious in Brussels city centre, so I refrained.

 

But it seemed to me that this, more than any religious icon, is the greatest tribute to humanity.

 

The man in this grave died unknown.  He was probably not a fierce warrior.  He was probably frightened, wishing he was home, grieving the loss of friends shot down in action.  Sacrificed for a stupid and foolish war.

 

But this personification of the hundreds of thousands of boys - and they were boys - who went to war never to return, is deeply moving to me.  Because if not for them, I would be here today enjoying the freedoms which they died to protect in the two great wars.  To honour these boys is what it means to be truly human, and to truly value life.

 

When you go home, tell them of us and say, for their tomorrow, we gave our today.

[amateur]

A young man, loved and missed by his family.

 

"But it seemed to me that this, more than any religious icon, is the greatest tribute to humanity."  *salute*

[Thurisaz]

It's sad when you notice you're so damn used to such monuments being at every corner that you don't notice or think about them anymore.

 

Over here in Germany the smallest damn fucking village has a memorial to its fallen soldiers (not unknown ones in that case, of course). If you compare the length of the name lists to the population of the village back then, it's often more than shocking.

[ExXex]

I studied a lot of war literature at school, a lot of it was touching but also way more bitter and cynical than a young man should have to be. So when I see these tombs I feel sad, these young men were lied to, told war was noble and their death would be glorious but instead die in some muddy field far from home and noone even knows who they were. The tombs try to hold up that death and say 'yes it was noble after all, they died because we put them there' and it's very sad that it's too late for that young man to appreciate the gesture. I kinda see them as monuments to humankind's folly (not the remembrance itself but what it's remembering - sending our young people off to die at the hand of other young people)

[gall]

It's sad when you notice you're so damn used to such monuments being at every corner that you don't notice or think about them anymore.

 

Over here in Germany the smallest damn fucking village has a memorial to its fallen soldiers (not unknown ones in that case, of course). If you compare the length of the name lists to the population of the village back then, it's often more than shocking.

 

No disrespect to those that died for us at all.

 

It is sad that they are even needed and we have not outgrown the need to war in the last oh 10000 years or so.

 

I hope that some generation in the future will know an entire generation without war in the hopes that another never come again.

[SquareOne]

I studied a lot of war literature at school, a lot of it was touching but also way more bitter and cynical than a young man should have to be. So when I see these tombs I feel sad, these young men were lied to, told war was noble and their death would be glorious but instead die in some muddy field far from home and noone even knows who they were. The tombs try to hold up that death and say 'yes it was noble after all, they died because we put them there' and it's very sad that it's too late for that young man to appreciate the gesture. I kinda see them as monuments to humankind's folly (not the remembrance itself but what it's remembering - sending our young people off to die at the hand of other young people)

 

I think in respect of some wars, such as the First World War, your sentiment - which I expressed myself above - is more relevant.

 

With respect of the Second World War, I would strongly argue that Britain was right to declare war against Nazi Germany.  And I don't think that in respect of that war men were told their deaths would be glorious.  However, I do strongly believe that it was a noble cause to fight to put an end to genocide and tyranny.  And the world is better off for the resistance of the Allies against fascism and genocide.

[Thurisaz]

Well the Wehrmacht soldiers were told all that crap about honor and glory and how noble it is to die for the führer blah yadda yadda pride victory yadda blah.

[SquareOne]

Well the Wehrmacht soldiers were told all that crap about honor and glory and how noble it is to die for the führer blah yadda yadda pride victory yadda blah.

 

Indeed - from their perspective - the same futility and lunacy in which everyone was engaged in the First World War would seem to apply.  It is desperately sad.