Why Forget?

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 14, 9 October 1937, Page 6

Why Forget?

Sira— The. incident reported in .th* Herald-Tribune a few days ago of th*i obliterating* of the words "Lest W« Fdrget," painted on a raft of th* Lusitania, prompts the question, ,".Why forget!" Oiie war yeteran who ajK proved of the aot eaqslained his reason fpr so doiug by sayiqg that ha no mor* wished to . be reminded by the sight oi such relics of German atrocities than by gazdng at his ecars be reminded th* suffering his bounds caused him, But if by *o garihg he could find a way to prevent his owh and other people'* son* from having to endure similar sUffer^ ings, surely it wottld be worth wbile td gaze at themf -It is just for this reasons that relics of the Great War should be kept ih public, places. It is by seeing them, , and, remembering . and realising the suffering. caused through war, that will. inspire such a horror of it that no sacrifice to prevent it will eeem top great if It can be done with hbhour. It is a great mistake to think that these mementos are -intended to foster a Spirit bf revenge or a warliie temper, or that there is Any fear pf them doing so. The writer happened to be iu Lendon on- the day when the medals struck to: commemorate. the sinkihg of the Lusitania wete first sold in aid 'of the Bed Cross funds, aud he waa also present when three' or four fishermen Tescued from a dinghy to which they took on the sinking of their small fishing boat by. a German siibmarine ih. the English Channel, came on board his steamer, aud on neither occasion did he hear any talk of revenge. There was only a more. rugged determination to continue to fight till- an- end were put to such inhuman outra^es forever. We should not forget that these aud worse things were done, and would be done again by an nnrepentant Germany if ever she got the chance. Let ns.iee ,to it. that she nor any other semicivilised Ppwer gets the chance to do so. To argue otherwise is mere emotionalism engendered by a wilful disregard for facts. Germany% Italy aud Japau have ehown that no vtreAties, ' promises, nor pacts, however solemnly entered into they may have been, are in the least sacred to them if they stand in the way of their ambitious; and are no security to us unless by adequately arming we can make it too perilous .for them to break them. We shaU not get within even measurable distance of tbat until we have compulsory military training again. Lord Eoberts devoted the last years of hie long life in endeavouring to awAken England to the necessity for this, and spent his strength in vain; and the, result was the war that ha predicted if his advice were unheeded— a war that. in aU probability never would have happened if England 's manhood had. been trained and equipped as it should have been. Are we still as blind to what is going on in the world around us as that generation wasf If not how account for the reluctance to compel every ablebodied young man to learn at least- the rudiments of soldiering! If "we. are in danger of ceaeing to Temember what the Great War cost in suffering, in lives and in treasure, then let us continue to keep -its relics and mementos in promlnent public places "let we forget."-— Yours, etc., agub* Waipawa, October 7, 1937.