Peace and reconciliation

 

Reflection 8^th November 2020 Remembrance Sunday

 

When we were on holiday at Wareham in October, we decided to have a wander around the town. We ended up at the parish church and looking over the low wall to the cemetery, we realised there was quite a large Commonwealth War Graves section. We were intrigued and went to have a look.

Many of the graves were from the late First World War and included a large number of Australians and members of the Tank Corps. Given that even to this day the Tank Corps is based at nearby Bovington, this wasn’t too surprising. But the Australians? We found a sign with all the graves plotted out and it told us there had been a military hospital just outside the town and this explained many of the deaths – including a significant number who died in 1919 of Spanish flu.

But reading the sign we realised that there were graves from the Second World War too. One poignantly “To an unknown British sailor” whose body had been found on the coast close by. But for me two graves said so much. 

Side by side they were for RAF Sergeant Pilot George Nicol killed on 15^th September 1942 aged 22 and German aircrew Feldwebel (Sergeant) Horst Huffsky killed on 24^th April 1944 aged 23.

In life these two young men were enemies, but in death they are laid side by side. They were similar ages. They were someone’s sons, they might have been a brother, they might have been a husband or a father.

I’ve no idea whether Sergeant Nicol or Sergeant Huffsky have descendants still living. I don’t know whether they are remembered by anyone alive now. Though at least today we are calling to mind their names. I am purposely using their names for us to focus our thoughts on as we Remember those who have died in war, whether members of armed forces or civilians.

I know I’ve quoted a saying by Roy T Bennett on several occasions, “The past is a place of reference, not a place of residence; the past is a place of learning, not a place of living.” It is a quote that can be used in many contexts but nowhere is it more appropriate than on Remembrance Sunday.

For me in our acts of Remembrance, we should be seeking to learn from the mistakes of the past so that we don’t repeat them.

This year marked 75^th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Mr Nicol and Mr Huffsky (and millions of other people) did not survive to see the end of that conflict. Would they be alive today had they survived? Who knows? They both would have been very elderly men – just slightly younger than Captain Tom who inspired us all earlier this year with his sponsored walk to mark his 100^th birthday and raise money for NHS.

I must admit that I was slightly relieved that the VE Day and VJ Day commemorations were much lower key than they might have been due to Covid19. That’s not because I do not respect those (such as Captain Tom) who played their part in the Second World War. I do. But because it seems to me there are many in this country who seem determined to think of that period in our history as a time of nostalgia. Some, often those too young to have known the war, think of it as a time when everyone got misty eyed at the sight and sound of Spitfires and we all gathered round the radio to sing “We’ll meet again”. I suspect it wasn’t like that at all.

For me what VE & VJ day should be about is not so much the ending of war, but of the outbreak of peace. When age old enemies have found ways of turning swords in to plough shares. Many women and men of the generation who fought in, or lived through, the Second World War found ways of building bridges. Found ways of putting aside their differences. Found ways of loving their enemies.

This was courageous, for loving our enemies is the hardest thing to do. You may recall that in a Reflection on 3rd September I mentioned a story of Corrie Ten Boom coming to love her enemy; a man who had been a prison guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp were Miss Ten Boom had been a prisoner. I won’t retell the story here, but it is a perfect illustration of the way we as Christians are to be at the forefront of forgiveness and demonstrating love. 

https://notanormalvicar.blogspot.com/2020/09/forgivness-and-reconciliation.html

Going back to Sergeants Nicol and Huffsky for a moment. Through the internet I have found out a small amount about both men. Sergeant Nicol came from just outside Wareham and was killed when his plane crashed during a training flight in Yorkshire. Sergeant Huffsky’s plane was shot down by anti-aircraft fire near Wareham. He came from Dresden.

Since the Second World War the bombing of two cities - Coventry and Dresden – has come to symbolise the horrific nature of the bombing campaigns. This is not the place to go over those arguments. But since the war Coventry and Dresden together have promoted peace and reconciliation.  The cities have been twinned since 1959 and when the decision was made to rebuild Dresden’s Frauenkirche cathedral in 2005 (it had lain in ruins during the days of East Germany) the reconciliation team at Coventry Cathedral were closely involved.

Coventry Cathedral is a powerful example of forgiveness and love for our enemies. When the cathedral was destroyed by German bombs on 14/15 November 1940, the Provost, Richard Howard, had the words “Father forgive” chiselled into the ruins of the sanctuary wall. Above these words, on the altar, stands the original Coventry Cross of Nails. In the smoking ruins of the cathedral after the destruction, some medieval carpenter’s nails were salvaged from the beams of the vaulted ceiling. Three of these nails were later bound together in the shape of a cross. Thus, remnants of the destruction were turned into a new sign of Christian hope, showing that the wounds of war were healing.

Since then steps of reconciliation have been taken in various ways around the world in the spirit of the Cross of Nails. More than 200 Crosses of Nails have found a home in places where the people beneath these crosses have chosen to lay aside old differences and live in a spirit of reconciliation.

 

Peace and reconciliation, love of our enemies seems a fitting tribute to Sergeants Nicol and Huffsky. Two men united in death.

 

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.