In commemoration of the eightieth anniversary of the
ending of World War One on November 11th 1998, I felt it appropriate to mark
the occasion with the writing of two special poems, illustrating the sacrifices
ordinary men and women made, 720,000 with their lives on the field of battle
itself, so that the rest of us could live in peace. The fact that this has
been a broken and fragile peace ever since does nothing to diminish
this.
Memories of the events, themselves, inevitably grow
fainter with the years and the last few survivors grow fewer, too, year by
year, but we must never forget what they did.
Tony Webster (letter to Buckingham
Advertiser, November 7th 1998).
