22. Remembrance Day

November 9^th I returned to Myanmar again at the request of our business partners, to go over the excavation proposal and to prepare for a meeting with the government Spitfire committee. My visit fortuitously coincides with Remembrance Day, which marks the Armistice that ended WWI – when the guns of August at last fell silent. Remembrance Day is observed every November 11^th throughout the Common Wealth. The UK Embassy heard that David and I were in town and kindly invited us to attend the observances at Taukkyat War Cemetery just outside Yangon. Established in 1951, the cemetery contains the graves of more than 6,374 Commonwealth soldiers, 867 of whom remain unknown. The stone columns of the memorial are inscribed with the names of more than 27,000 Commonwealth soldiers whose bodies were never retrieved – young men from Africa, India, Australia, and the UK. An inscription in the central rotunda of the memorial proclaims in Burmese, Hindi, Urdu, Gurmukhi, and English “they died for all freemen.”

The morning broke bright and clear, with a perfect blue sky. We arrived early and were greeted by members of the British Royal Legion, who pinned a poppy flower on our lapels – the symbol of remembrance and respect. Ambassadors and military attachés, elderly survivors of the Burma campaign, their families, Anglican clergy, and others gathered to pay their respects. From the podium, looking out at the small band of aging veterans, their chests proudly bedecked with medals, British Ambassador Mr. Andrew Heyn spoke of comradeship and courage, as well as the sadness and brutal realities of war. The Reverend Deacon David Judson Hogarth spoke next. He recited the Ode of Remembrance, from Laurence Binyon’s poem, “For the Fallen”. Finally, an elderly veteran of the Burma Campaign recited the Kohima Epitaph of Major John Etty-Leal.

When you go home
Tell them of us and say
For your tomorrow
We gave out today

After a short pause, two Tatmadaw representatives played the haunting bugle call of The Last Post, followed by two minutes of silence. They then played The Reveille, which symbolizes the rising sun, hope, and renewal. We watched as the Ambassadors from twenty nations laid wreathes in the rotunda of the memorial. It was a poignant reminder of what happened here 70 years ago.