Thame Remembers Its Fallen

OFFICIATING at what was his last Remembrance Service before he retires as the Bishop of Oxford, The Rt Reverend Richard Harries rededicated Thame’s War Memorial on Sunday.
The Bishop reminded the hundreds of Thame residents in attendance, including the Mayor and town councillors, young people from the various junior Service groups, The Fire Service and the Police Service, that they were there to remember those men of Thame who died in both world wars and all wars since; he spoke about the necessity for us all to remember and appreciate that the way of life we have enjoyed for 60 years, “free from fighting and tyrany” is because of their sacrifice.
The Bishop quoted Lloyd George, who dedicated the Memorial on July 30, 1921: “The world goes in a different direction because these 87 men of Thame gave their lives with many others. It has altered the great current of the human story…”

In words so redolent of the current controversy over whether or not it was prudent to go to war against Iraq, Lloyd George went on to say: “These men (of the British Empire), most of who came to the flag voluntary, fought not to repel the invader from their homes, but for fair play to other countries that were being trampled upon by a ruthless foe. That was an element in the sacrifice which ennobled it.”

The Bishop continued: “The lesson for today is clear; to work for a just world, a world in which everyone has an honoured place. When, on the other hand, there is injustice and a sense of exclusion, then will be created the bitterness in which are the seeds of violence.”
He concluded by quoting Lloyd George once again: “We must be aware lest we bequeath to our children a legacy of concentrated hate which will one day explode shattering their happiness and leaving the world a wilderness and man a gaunt wanderer amongst the ruins of the civilisation his folly has destroyed.
“That was not what the gallant young men of Thame died for.”

Phylis Quainton, who was at the originaly dedication of the War Memorial in 1921, met and chatted with the Bishop after the service and joined others for refreshments after the service.

The Last Post and Reveille, was played by Peter Kingsnorth.