REMEMBRANCE - NOVEMBER 2007
Address given by the Dean at the Royal Irish Regiment's Service of Remembrance. Telling the story, sharing the vision.
This has been quite a year in the history of this regiment - highlighted for many of us in the events at the end of July last. The service here giving thanks for the service of the UDR, and the home service battalions of the Royal Irish at the end of Op Banner - thirty years of continuous operations brought to a successful conclusion. The last parade at the depot in St Patrick’s Barracks where any sensitive person saw the magnitude of that event in the manner in which General Roger Wheeler received the standard after it had been lowered for the final time there. And last Saturday evening, the final performance of the Band in the Waterfront at the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance. That this was all achieved with good grace speaks a lot about the spirit and ethos of the Royal Irish and those who worked very hard indeed on behalf of the welfare and well being of all those members, personnel and dependents who were affected.
The move of the First Battalion to Tern Hill from Fort George, and the recent exercise in Kenya in preparation for deployment in Afghanistan, where it will be supported by over a hundred volunteers from the TA battalion, certainly leaves little time for reflection on the past. But that is what we are gathered here today to do - to reflect on the past service and sacrifice of the Regiment. And as I saw in some excellent media reports the young men of the regiment in Kenya being interviewed, I thought of the responsibility which this places upon the regimental family and I can think of no better occasion than this remembrance service to raise this issue of how we remember the past and shape the future.
One of the most important books I read in over twenty years as a full time professional in Christian education was by a Roman Catholic priest who was teaching in a university in Boston. His writing style and expressive language should have given the game away. He was Ifrom Ireland. Thomas Groome was his name, and he had great delight in telling me that his parents were still living in Kildare. The subtitle of his magnificent work on Christian Religious education was - telling our story, sharing our vision. In those time honoured words, I say again, “Telling our story, sharing our vision”.
This is the challenge I would set for those of you who are concerned about the future of the Royal Irish. Without hauling young recruits and young officers into the classroom - how would you go about telling them the story of this wonderful regiment? How do you tell them about Barossa and Talavera; about the Boer War, the Somme and Messines; about Dunkirk and D-Day; about Palestine, the Imjin and Korea; about the borderlands of Ulster and about Iraq and Afghanistan first - or second time round.
I am not a close student of military history - but I believe that knowing the story of their regiment is a non-negotiable in the shaping of the soldier - no matter what cap badge, no matter what rank, race or religion. Regiments, like religious communities, are story shaped. From the past we draw inspiration and values and they in turn shape our expectations and our vision.
If I was tasked to do this, I would want the young men to hear the actual words of those in whose footsteps they follow. Think on this day of regimental remembrance of the history which the Royal Irish enfolds in its identity. Barossa 1811 - when the Faughs routed the French in a charge which an eye witness described as the most terrible bayonet fight he had ever seen. The young soldiers may not remember the date, but I doubt they will forget the words of Sergeant Masterson when he seized the French Imperial Eagle with the immortal words, “Be jabers boys, I have the cuckoo”. Mind you when I read those words I rather think that there were spin doctors about in 1811! But small wonder when the same regiment charged at St Eloi in 1915 it was said, “It was Barossa all over again”.
I would want to share with them the words of people who were at the Somme - such as those collected by people like Richard Doherty with whom I had lunch only on Thursday last; and by Philip Orr. For every young officer and young NCO I would set as compulsory reading Richard’s book “The Sons of Ulster - Ulstermen at war from the Somme to Korea”, and Philip’s book, “The Road to the Somme” . And I would expect them to tell their men about what was said by former members of the Regimental family, and by whom, and when.
The Somme still has the statistics to chill - The 36th Ulster Division suffered immense casualties and won three Victoria Crosses in one day. That July morning 20,000 troops were killed and the regiment which suffered most was the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. One battalion almost wiped out and the regiment as a whole suffered 2,208 dead, the greatest death ever inflicted on any single regiment of the British army in one day.
Harry Bennett was one of those who paraded with his battalion after they were withdrawn from the line. Now over 400 men fewer in numbers than they had been at 7.30 the previous morning. Hear again Harry’s words: “A name would be called and someone would answer “He’s dead”, then another name and the same answer... I lost a lot of friends that day”.
I would want the young soldier to hear the words of those who survived, and the descriptions of the impact of the news on individual families and in areas as diverse as the Shankill and the Bogside. Bob Grange from Ballyclare said his small town “Had over thirty killed and over a hundred wounded and mind you, that was a packet for such a small place. I was about two years out when I got my first leave and when I came home they told me that for several weeks after the first of July, every time they heard a knock at the door their hearts stopped beating: “Was it a telegram”.”
From the Second World War I would like to pass on to the young officers and men the words of Ulster Riflemen who served under Colonel ‘Ghandi’ Knox on the retreat to Dunkirk. Men like Colour Sergeant Dick Connell describing the strafing by Messerschmidts, and Bandsman John Donovan’s description of the chaos as they waited to be taken off the beaches. And the voices for the comeback on D Day would include Major Jack Chapman, glider borne with the First Battalion.
And so I would go on using a certain Captain Robin Charley’s description of his first ever combat patrol in Korea, and that wonderful description of the effects of the cold of Korea on a bottle of beer by my former parishioner, and Denzil Caldwell’s former signaller, Joe Lavery. And I would follow that with Joe’s most telling comments on conditions as a prisoner of war.
These and the more recent voices from Iraq, Cyprus, Bosnia and other places are the voices of the regiment. They are essential to telling the regimental story. And if young men are to serve as faithfully as their forebears then that story must be told and those voices must be heard. This must happen if there is to be the basic individual courage on which the whole thing depends - basic individual courage shaped by not letting yourself down, or your mates down, or your regiment down. The story must be told again and again to each new recruit and each new officer, and it can only be told authentically in the words of those who were there on the days when it really mattered.
There are two words with religious origins which are much used and sometimes abused today in military matters and language - and the words are doctrine and covenant. My friends these are story centred words. They are words at the very core of the faith-salvation story at the heart of the Jewish-Christian tradition.
In telling that story, according to my friend from Kildare, we go back through an Upper Room where a young man on the eve of his execution took bread and wine, blessed them and shared them with his friends. This action on the Feast of the Passover - took the men and women in his company that evening back into their story. Back to the time when the youngest male at their family’s Passover meal asked by the oldest male present, “What do these things mean...”, and then the oldest male responded by telling the faith-story of Israel... beginning with the words, “ A wandering Aramean was my father, and the Lord took him into the land of Egypt.”
That young Jew , Jesus of Nazareth, not only told that story, he re-invested it with value and new meaning, he shared a vision of a new world, a new creation, and then after prayer he went on to do his duty and to pay the supreme price for doing so. Without that we would not be here today. And without the service and sacrifice of legions of young men who served in this regimental family, we would not have this freedom to assemble - even to worship God.
I am now very conscious that the Regiment has no publicly accessible facility or footprint in Northern Ireland - save for the regimental chapel in this cathedral church. But what a footprint it is with its rich symbolism, with its reminders of courage and sacrifice at home and abroad, with the standards of outstanding soldiers like James Steele and Gerard Templar, with reminders of faithfulness and courage such as the prayer book from Korea. But it must never become simply a repository for symbols of the past. It must increasingly become a living storied-centred resource of inspiration for the future. It must be the very spiritual expression of the ethos and identity of the Royal Irish.
I would hope that some conscious and deliberate effort is made to bring each new recruit - whether regular or reservist to this cathedral - and that someone from this regiment would meet with the clergy here, or the associations’ chaplains, and together we will tell the story and share the vision. Only by doing so will we really honour those who have gone before, paid the price and set us an example, like the saviour on the cross, of having the basic courage to do our duty to our comrades, our regiment, to our country and our sovereign, and above all, to the values which they represent.
That is the covenant and the doctrine which matter most. Together let us tell our story and share our vision, of a world for which Christ died, but a world in which we recognise evil as a reality, and let us not be party to cloaking the dreadful reality of the tremendous cost of maintaining peace ay home and abroad. Only in such a way can we keep faith with those we honour today from the family and forbearers of the Royal Irish, and only in this way can we behave responsibly to those who are presently serving wearing the Caubeen, whose steps quicken to Killaloo, and who go to places where they certainly will be tested, every bit as much as those who were tested at Barossa, Dunkirk or the Imjin.
May God clear the way and protect them in times of action and in times of peace. May they always be conscious that nothing can seperate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
The move of the First Battalion to Tern Hill from Fort George, and the recent exercise in Kenya in preparation for deployment in Afghanistan, where it will be supported by over a hundred volunteers from the TA battalion, certainly leaves little time for reflection on the past. But that is what we are gathered here today to do - to reflect on the past service and sacrifice of the Regiment. And as I saw in some excellent media reports the young men of the regiment in Kenya being interviewed, I thought of the responsibility which this places upon the regimental family and I can think of no better occasion than this remembrance service to raise this issue of how we remember the past and shape the future.
One of the most important books I read in over twenty years as a full time professional in Christian education was by a Roman Catholic priest who was teaching in a university in Boston. His writing style and expressive language should have given the game away. He was Ifrom Ireland. Thomas Groome was his name, and he had great delight in telling me that his parents were still living in Kildare. The subtitle of his magnificent work on Christian Religious education was - telling our story, sharing our vision. In those time honoured words, I say again, “Telling our story, sharing our vision”.
This is the challenge I would set for those of you who are concerned about the future of the Royal Irish. Without hauling young recruits and young officers into the classroom - how would you go about telling them the story of this wonderful regiment? How do you tell them about Barossa and Talavera; about the Boer War, the Somme and Messines; about Dunkirk and D-Day; about Palestine, the Imjin and Korea; about the borderlands of Ulster and about Iraq and Afghanistan first - or second time round.
I am not a close student of military history - but I believe that knowing the story of their regiment is a non-negotiable in the shaping of the soldier - no matter what cap badge, no matter what rank, race or religion. Regiments, like religious communities, are story shaped. From the past we draw inspiration and values and they in turn shape our expectations and our vision.
If I was tasked to do this, I would want the young men to hear the actual words of those in whose footsteps they follow. Think on this day of regimental remembrance of the history which the Royal Irish enfolds in its identity. Barossa 1811 - when the Faughs routed the French in a charge which an eye witness described as the most terrible bayonet fight he had ever seen. The young soldiers may not remember the date, but I doubt they will forget the words of Sergeant Masterson when he seized the French Imperial Eagle with the immortal words, “Be jabers boys, I have the cuckoo”. Mind you when I read those words I rather think that there were spin doctors about in 1811! But small wonder when the same regiment charged at St Eloi in 1915 it was said, “It was Barossa all over again”.
I would want to share with them the words of people who were at the Somme - such as those collected by people like Richard Doherty with whom I had lunch only on Thursday last; and by Philip Orr. For every young officer and young NCO I would set as compulsory reading Richard’s book “The Sons of Ulster - Ulstermen at war from the Somme to Korea”, and Philip’s book, “The Road to the Somme” . And I would expect them to tell their men about what was said by former members of the Regimental family, and by whom, and when.
The Somme still has the statistics to chill - The 36th Ulster Division suffered immense casualties and won three Victoria Crosses in one day. That July morning 20,000 troops were killed and the regiment which suffered most was the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. One battalion almost wiped out and the regiment as a whole suffered 2,208 dead, the greatest death ever inflicted on any single regiment of the British army in one day.
Harry Bennett was one of those who paraded with his battalion after they were withdrawn from the line. Now over 400 men fewer in numbers than they had been at 7.30 the previous morning. Hear again Harry’s words: “A name would be called and someone would answer “He’s dead”, then another name and the same answer... I lost a lot of friends that day”.
I would want the young soldier to hear the words of those who survived, and the descriptions of the impact of the news on individual families and in areas as diverse as the Shankill and the Bogside. Bob Grange from Ballyclare said his small town “Had over thirty killed and over a hundred wounded and mind you, that was a packet for such a small place. I was about two years out when I got my first leave and when I came home they told me that for several weeks after the first of July, every time they heard a knock at the door their hearts stopped beating: “Was it a telegram”.”
From the Second World War I would like to pass on to the young officers and men the words of Ulster Riflemen who served under Colonel ‘Ghandi’ Knox on the retreat to Dunkirk. Men like Colour Sergeant Dick Connell describing the strafing by Messerschmidts, and Bandsman John Donovan’s description of the chaos as they waited to be taken off the beaches. And the voices for the comeback on D Day would include Major Jack Chapman, glider borne with the First Battalion.
And so I would go on using a certain Captain Robin Charley’s description of his first ever combat patrol in Korea, and that wonderful description of the effects of the cold of Korea on a bottle of beer by my former parishioner, and Denzil Caldwell’s former signaller, Joe Lavery. And I would follow that with Joe’s most telling comments on conditions as a prisoner of war.
These and the more recent voices from Iraq, Cyprus, Bosnia and other places are the voices of the regiment. They are essential to telling the regimental story. And if young men are to serve as faithfully as their forebears then that story must be told and those voices must be heard. This must happen if there is to be the basic individual courage on which the whole thing depends - basic individual courage shaped by not letting yourself down, or your mates down, or your regiment down. The story must be told again and again to each new recruit and each new officer, and it can only be told authentically in the words of those who were there on the days when it really mattered.
There are two words with religious origins which are much used and sometimes abused today in military matters and language - and the words are doctrine and covenant. My friends these are story centred words. They are words at the very core of the faith-salvation story at the heart of the Jewish-Christian tradition.
In telling that story, according to my friend from Kildare, we go back through an Upper Room where a young man on the eve of his execution took bread and wine, blessed them and shared them with his friends. This action on the Feast of the Passover - took the men and women in his company that evening back into their story. Back to the time when the youngest male at their family’s Passover meal asked by the oldest male present, “What do these things mean...”, and then the oldest male responded by telling the faith-story of Israel... beginning with the words, “ A wandering Aramean was my father, and the Lord took him into the land of Egypt.”
That young Jew , Jesus of Nazareth, not only told that story, he re-invested it with value and new meaning, he shared a vision of a new world, a new creation, and then after prayer he went on to do his duty and to pay the supreme price for doing so. Without that we would not be here today. And without the service and sacrifice of legions of young men who served in this regimental family, we would not have this freedom to assemble - even to worship God.
I am now very conscious that the Regiment has no publicly accessible facility or footprint in Northern Ireland - save for the regimental chapel in this cathedral church. But what a footprint it is with its rich symbolism, with its reminders of courage and sacrifice at home and abroad, with the standards of outstanding soldiers like James Steele and Gerard Templar, with reminders of faithfulness and courage such as the prayer book from Korea. But it must never become simply a repository for symbols of the past. It must increasingly become a living storied-centred resource of inspiration for the future. It must be the very spiritual expression of the ethos and identity of the Royal Irish.
I would hope that some conscious and deliberate effort is made to bring each new recruit - whether regular or reservist to this cathedral - and that someone from this regiment would meet with the clergy here, or the associations’ chaplains, and together we will tell the story and share the vision. Only by doing so will we really honour those who have gone before, paid the price and set us an example, like the saviour on the cross, of having the basic courage to do our duty to our comrades, our regiment, to our country and our sovereign, and above all, to the values which they represent.
That is the covenant and the doctrine which matter most. Together let us tell our story and share our vision, of a world for which Christ died, but a world in which we recognise evil as a reality, and let us not be party to cloaking the dreadful reality of the tremendous cost of maintaining peace ay home and abroad. Only in such a way can we keep faith with those we honour today from the family and forbearers of the Royal Irish, and only in this way can we behave responsibly to those who are presently serving wearing the Caubeen, whose steps quicken to Killaloo, and who go to places where they certainly will be tested, every bit as much as those who were tested at Barossa, Dunkirk or the Imjin.
May God clear the way and protect them in times of action and in times of peace. May they always be conscious that nothing can seperate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
