Remembrance Sunday is a treasured national occasion on which people young and old across the nation join together in a common purpose: simply, to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice in war.
As a Member of Parliament, I have the privilege to spend much of my time at the centre of democracy in the United Kingdom; a place in which the values for which people suffered and died during war and peace are epitomised through elected representatives championing the views of their constituents. Seeing democracy in action in this way brings home to me daily, just how fortunate we are to live in a society in which democracy and freedom are commonplace, especially given that many around the world cannot claim the same experience. This is something we can never overlook, whilst being thankful that Remembrance Sunday each year serves as a focal point to come together as a society and give thanks for those who suffered and died for these freedoms.
Over the years, the growing number of constituents, young and old, and of all cultures and beliefs who attend acts of remembrance across our towns and villages never fails to inspire me. Suffolk has a unique military heritage of which I know many are rightly proud; our constituency plays host to the RAF Force Protection Wing at Honington, the Army Air Corps, Wattisham, as well as the Headquarters of the Royal Anglian Regiment. It was a great pleasure to see representatives of some of these units on parade across the constituency alongside our United States counterparts, with their home in Mildenhall and Lakenheath. Many will have had family serving in these units as well as former ones. Stories of young men called up from farms and villages to serve on the Western Front in the Suffolk Regiment is part of what makes us proud of our county. On a recent visit to Wortham, I found myself in the St Mary’s Church discussing a stained glass window which was a memorial to two sons of the local farmer who lost their lives in World War. This is just one example of Suffolk’s distinct military heritage of which we are all so proud.
On Armistice Day itself, I attended a moving act of Remembrance in Haughley, where we heard children read moving poems. On Saturday, as always, I was present at the Appleby Rose Garden in Bury St Edmunds for the laying of wreaths at the Dunkirk, VJ Day, Normandy Veterans, Royal Anglian and RAF Honington Memorials, and on Remembrance Sunday laid a Wreath following a service at St Peter and St Mary, Stowmarket (Photo below).
I know that for those with fathers, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, sons and daughters who have served and continue to serve across the armed forces and civilian services, remembrance is a particularly poignant moment, and I am honoured each year, as their Member of Parliament, to join them in this moment of reflection.
