Collingham Comment

Wootton Bassett

Wootton Bassett, it’s not much of a name to conjure with, but there’s something that happens there that is worthy of especial note.

Whenever the bodies of British service personnel are repatriated from Afghanistan to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, the cortege carrying the bodies of the fallen winds its way through the town of Wootton Bassett en route to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, and every time it happens the inhabitants of Wootton Bassett are there lining the roads to pay their respects.  According to the BBC News website, what started out as a small ceremony has now grown and thousands of people swell the ranks of the townspeople, not only in the town, but on the whole route of the cortege on each of these sad occasions.

Regardless of what we feel about the politics of the war in Afghanistan, our soldiers are there fighting and dying on our behalf and I find the simple sign of respect the people of Wootton Basset accords to those of them that have lost their lives deeply moving.  I make a point of joining them vicariously via the television or the Internet in order to ensure I don’t lose sight of my responsibilities as a citizen.  The government that sends these young people out to fight and die does so in my name and I feel that it’s incumbent upon me to see the reality of that and not turn away. 

I make a point of reading the name of every one of these brave soldiers as they return home in their flag draped coffins, I may not know them, but at least I know their names for just a fleeting moment and will read them again when I next visit the National Memorial Arboretum and although I won’t remember them as individuals, I will remember their sacrifice every year on November 11.

Much as I would wish it, I can’t be there at Wootton Bassett myself, but I would like to tell the people of that town that I’m truly grateful to them for representing me, and hopefully all the people of Collingham, whenever a fallen soldier travels the penultimate leg of the long road home.

 

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