It is a huge honour and privilege to represent the Constituency of West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine. As we approach Remembrance Weekend, that sense of honour and of duty to represent becomes more acute as the mind is focussed on those thousands who left our region to defend our country, our freedoms and our way of life- many of whom, of course, never returned.
From the Howe of the Mearns to Strathdon, memorials and monuments stand testament to their sacrifice and indeed as a reminder to all that men and women, living in our towns and villages, continue to hold the scars of war and conflict, ancient and recent. We owe it to the memory of those who fell and those who returned, to remember and pay tribute to their service.
This year, as we mark eighty years since the end of World War Two, and as the number of veterans of that almighty conflict become fewer, it is more important than ever to renew the spirit of remembrance and dedicate, once more, ourselves to making good on the promise of a better Britain, Commonwealth and world that they so bravely fought for.
Last month, it was a privilege to join many in the community of Cluny as we re-dedicated the War Memorial there following its move to a more accessible site. There, as we stood silently, surrounded by ancient woodland and rolling Aberdeenshire hills, my thoughts went to those called from that area, and so many like it, who had never so much set foot outside the parish let alone overseas, who found themselves, like my great uncle, in Palestine or Turkey, where he now lies in the Pink Farm Cemetery near Gallipoli.
In 2008 I was privileged to help organise the 90th Anniversary of the Great War commemoration at the Cenotaph in London. A year earlier I felt equally honoured to attend the 25th Anniversary of the Falklands War at St Carlos Cemetery on those islands in the South Atlantic. At that time I remember thinking how much war had changed from 1918 to 1982. And how it had changed between then and my service in the late 2000s.
War and the nature of military service has changed still more since then. And our armed forces have changed too. But the call upon our young men and women, and the strain of separation on their families, wherever and however they are deployed in service of our country, remains as it ever was.
This weekend I will be laying my wreath, on behalf of the people of West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, at the Stonehaven War Memorial – the town my grandfather left to serve in the Royal Navy for over twenty years. As I do, I will be thinking and remembering all those who fell and are remembered on that and every memorial around Great Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, but also those who continue to serve and their families. I truly believe they are the best of us and will forever demand our respect and admiration.
I wish you all a peaceful and reflective Remembrance Weekend.
