Armistice Day: Remembering
bravery and sacrifice
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| Poppies at War Memorial to remember Britain's war dead (AFP) |
The 11th of November marks Armistice Day which remembers all
those who have died for their country during conflicts. It also offers an
opportunity to shine the spotlight on military chaplains who provide
accompaniment and companionship to their flock.
By Lydia O’Kane
This Monday events are taking place across the UK, as well
as in other allied nations including France and the United States, to
commemorate the day when the battlefields fell silent and World War I came to
an end.
Speaking to Vatican Radio, the Reverend Squadron Leader
David Skillen, Principal Catholic Chaplain to Britain’s Royal Air Force,
recalls the first Armistice Day which was held at Buckingham Palace on the
11th November 1919, and where King George V held a two minute
silence as a mark of respect for those who died in the Great War. It was
an act that would ensure that the fallen and their sacrifice would not be
forgotten.
Learning lessons and hope for the future
For Deacon Skillen, remembrance “is about past, present and
future.” He says, “it’s about the past because… we remember the real lives of
those who died, you know their stories; these are real people, individuals. And
it’s about the present because we’re living in the present and we give
ourselves in their memory… to honour freedom and to build freedom in our
world today; to foster the values they died for. And it’s about the future
because we have the hard lessons of the past of our war dead, the values that
were under attack then, still under attack in many ways today. These are
the lessons that should inspire us in hope towards a future where peace
prevails.”
The military chaplain
Reverend Skillen is one of two deacons who provide pastoral
care to service personnel in the RAF. He describes his role as a unique one. It
is, he explains, “a role of accompaniment and companionship for our servicemen
and women and their families.” He adds that the job falls into two categories;
one is being out on deployment or at war where chaplains deploy with the troops.
Then there is the aspect of the job which involves being back at the home units
where the chaplains live amongst service personnel and provide pastoral care.
Deacon Skillen, who is himself married with three children
of his own, says he can empathize in a particular way with those who have to go
off on deployment and leave loved ones behind. “I’ve been deployed a
couple of times myself over the past five and a half years. I’ve left my own
family behind for months on end to go to various parts of the world.”
The RAF chaplain also notes that, due to the nature of the
job, service personnel can find themselves in situations in which they lose
friends and colleagues and this in turn can make them aware of their own
mortality. This, he says, is when the chaplaincy comes into its own in a
big way: when people need to ask important questions about life and death.
Unsung heroes?
Asked if military Chaplains are unsung heroes, Deacon
Skillen modestly replies that he doesn’t think so. “The Chaplain doesn’t
need recognition in any worldly sense. We are content to serve the people,
knowing that it is God we bring to the people; it’s the peace of Jesus that we
bring to our people and if we have a sense something of that then that’s glory
enough for us.”
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