Sacrilege, Remembrance, and War Heroes Day

Soon, soon, to faithful warriors comes the rest.

Was it not sacriIege when for the first time in the history of Remembrance Day of the two world wars that the commemoration was held not on the nearest Sunday to 11th November as it must, but on 24 November? This happened in Colombo in 2024.

SL’s closest neighbours, India and Pakistan that contributed two million troops in both wars have their remembrance day for their soldiers who died defending their country and not the British Empire. SL’s Remembrance day for its own dead in conflict is officially 19 May. SL thus has two Remembrance days! One true the other irreverent.

On the nearest Sunday to 11 November a Remembrance day commemoration is held at the Cenotaph in Colombo to honour the dead of two World Wars. It is the same in the western Commonwealth countries and South Africa which latter, despite the divisions caused by the Boer war, sided with the British against Germany in both world wars.

The Cenotaph was built by British civilians to honour their dead who set forth from Ceylon, then a colony. Almost all the names inscribed on it are British.

India has a couple of church services in Bangalore and Calcutta and a ceremony in Kohima and Imphal on Remembrance Sunday. Pakistan’s commemoration is at a church service in Islamabad. In SL a relatively small contingent of troops and some veterans parade at the Cenotaph. (In London about 10,000 troops parade). Cenotaph in Greek means the tomb of the unknown warrior. Two thirds of the dead of WW1 have no known grave.

This Remembrance ceremony is commemorated in Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand being Commonwealth countries, France, Holland and Belgium and SL. It is held at the 11th minute (meaning last minute and not literally) on the eleventh day of the eleventh month (11 am 11th November). It was the day the Armistice was signed in a railway carriage at Compiegne in France. (It was actually signed between 6.12 and 6.20 am on 11 Nov 1918). The Treaty of Versailles signed on 28 June 1919 formally ended WW1. Germany surrendered to the Entente unconditionally. Troops from India, Pakistan, South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Russia, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Japan and Ceylon served in the Entente. The USA joined in the final stages of the war. The West isolated Japan thereafter. Was the attack on Pearl Harbour connected?

School boy volunteers from Trinity, S Thomas’, Royal and Kingswood also served the British Empire in World War One. One of them, Horsfall from S Thomas College won the Victoria Cross for valour. In both World Wars about 40,000 from Ceylon served in the British Forces in Europe, Africa and Asia. It all served a purpose then.

At first the commemoration was called Armistice day. It was renamed Remembrance Day in Britain and the Commonwealth to include the dead of both world wars and wars that followed. In the USA it is now called Veterans Day. Two minutes of silence, the laying of red poppy wreaths and a march past pay tribute to the fallen.

The Chief Guest at this commemoration in SL had once been Governor General and C in C William Gopallawa (mid 1970s). Successive Heads of State thereafter avoided invitations to appear as chief guests. A 30 year conflict prevailed. The absence of the C in C appeared to be of no consequence to almost all present. It was no wonder that even though sacrilege had occurred in 2024 the forces, the media and the public never mentioned it or took umbrage to date.

Citizens like the Mayor of Colombo, including one who had been a tuk tuk driver, were invited as Chief Guests. Most of these ‘chief guests’ knew or cared nix about what this was all about. The organizers knew that too.

But the organizers, SL Ex Servicemen’s Association (SLESA) marched on regardless. The photo opportunities to pin a red poppy on the C in C in his office were lapped up. Some C in Cs were embarrassed and took off the unfamiliar poppy as fast as it was pinned on them. The charade was followed by pomp and ceremony at the Cenotaph.

This situation had remained unchanged even 15 years after the 30 years of conflict ended. No thought or effort had been made by SLESA to erect a monument to honour SL’s own conflict dead as was done by the British in Ceylon after WW1. However the Defence Forces and Police built their own memorials with their own funds and held their own commemorations on their founding days. They will not forget their own. SLESA has instead however put up a new HQ near the new Defence HQ.

However the Defence Ministry put things right at the end of the conflict by erecting an imposing monument at Battaramulla at a serene location overlooking Parliament. They, unlike the British, did not think to ask the public to contribute. Was it an error? Neither did they resolve the issue of having two commemorations for the dead.

Unfortunately this commemoration was at first called a Victory Parade and was held in Colombo. It jarred and hurt the sensibilities of many, and not only the Northerners and Easterners who bore the brunt of the 100,000 casualties. Fortunately, saner counsel prevailed in 2015. The commemoration was renamed War Heroes Commemoration day. It was a step towards national reconciliation.

Happy but ignorant TV presenters joined the November bandwagon. They wore the poppy as though it was a badge of honour. Their attempts to imitate BBC TV presenters were ludicrous.

In 2023 for the first time a SL President (Ranil Wickremesinghe ) appeared at the November commemoration as Chief Guest. He was followed by President Anura Dissanayake in 2024.

The latter’s presence however was at a ceremony held on 24 and not 11 November . Apparently a request had been made for postponement of the hitherto sacrosanct day of remembrance. This had no precedent. It was said that the General Election was to be held on 14 November. SLESA Exco, despite the objections of very senior members, threw out relevance, custom, tradition and purpose and submitted. Who did it please? It did not have the spunk to insist that the date was inviolate. Has it now not lost its mandate as a consequence?

Clearly SLESA didn’t care too much about the significance of the hallowed date as long as the new President came as chief guest, the parade was held and poppies, sent free from UK by the British Legion and sold by SLESA, were worn.

The proceeds of the sale of poppies are the main income of SLESA. That the poppies were for Remembrance Sunday and not just any other Sunday appears not to have bothered SLESA at all. Yet the revenues of the poppy sales remain the motivating factor for SLESA to continue with this misleading and anachronistic ceremony and to duplicate SL’s own Remembrance Day. In 2024 SLESA also insulted and ridiculed the meaning of Remembrance Sunday.

Both Presidents may not have been too concerned, bothered or honestly briefed that the ceremony is held at a monument to the Entente and Allied dead of two World Wars. It is not for the 29,000 war dead of the SL Armed Forces and the police. Was the reverence the new President showed at the poppy wreath laying to the dead of the Empire on 24 Nov 25 then misguided and misplaced?

Did nobody brief the new C in C? Did he not know that on 19 May, a moving ceremony called National Heroes Remembrance Day is held near the Parliament. Hundreds of marching troops, disabled veterans and relatives honour and grieve for the dead. It is a fitting tribute to those who died in the service of their country. Ranaviru Seva Authority together with the Defence Ministry organizes the event. SLESA has little visibility here.

At least now, 77 years after Independence, like all non western Commonwealth countries, SL should abandon the meaningless symbols, relics and motifs of its colonial past. It may hurt some especially those whose relatives proudly and bravely served and died for the Empire in world wars. However SL should now honour only its own who died in the service of their country by having only one Remembrance Day and that on 19 May. None else.

Having alternate days, one for the dead of Empire and another for its own would appear to show disrespect for our own dead, confusion, ignorance and hypocrisy. That this charade has been going on unchallenged and for so long is mind blowing. That the correct date for the commemoration of Remembrance Sunday was thoughtlessly postponed in 2024 is proof.

Another thing. SLESA sells red cloth poppies ( A completely unfamiliar flower in SL) to keep in step inexorably with the British Legion that generously gifts them annually. Should SL possibly also have an alternative like the ‘sudu manel’ (white lotus- for peace) instead? The French who made the highest sacrifices in WW1 wear the blue corn flower on their Remembrance day. It is called Le Bluet de France, the National flower of Remembrance). It symbolizes hope and resilience. When will we in SL see our heroes who fought and died for us, honoured and remembered without reservation or imitation and only on 19 May?

“Dulce et Decorum Est pro patria mori” (It is sweet and right to die for your country). Wilfred Owen 1920)

Pray that the above quotation is not questioned by further folly.

by Zingari

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