LET THERE BE PEACE!

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22094, 27 April 1935, Page 4 (Supplement)

LET THERE BE PEACE!

By JOYCE ' LETFORD, Puketaha E.D., - Hamilton. Anzac Day comes this year at a time when "war seems more and more likely. War! It is an appalling thing that none -of us want, and yet actually we could, in our own small ways,, at least help to prevent it by abiding by that golden rule and by '' loving our neighbours even as we love ourselves." I am merely a child of 16 years, so, of course, have no recollection of the war at the actual time of fighting. Nevertheless, I cannot but realise what an awful thing that last period of slaughter 'and bloodshed must have been, when all around me now are the " boys" who made those stupendous sacrifices for home and country growing old before their time. They are genuine optimists, most of them, while, now at middle age, they are suffering a second time from war wounds. Shrapnel, which has lain embedded deep in the flesh for years, is now beginning to give pain, which increases in severity until an operation is necessary. That is just an example cruel i and yet some poor souls are suffering far worse reactions, while others fought till the end of the war and have continued battling ever since for better health and for life. Cruel, dreadful after affects of war are ageing ■n. those men every day. They are the men among whom we are growing up, and we realise how another war would ruin the health of the present young generation. The lads who work and play with us. do we, m 20 years' time, want to see them suffering from war effects as are the " boys" -of yester-year ? I am sure none of us want "that, and this is the time when we can do our best to prevent that from happening. We have massive, handsome monuments in stone and masonry erected to the memory of those courageous soldiers who fell in foreign fields during battle. We are proud to possess these memorials,, but how often we forget the comrades of those who died. Those who sacrificed their good health and their chances in life, alas! how often they are forgotten. In short, in remembering the valiant dead, we neglect their comrades Who are still fighting

and battling and who have not as yet ' found the peace that the fallen know. Therefore,'let'us build a living monument to the living soldiers by helping them in every possible way. We may not be able to help, directly, the hero himself, but perhaps his wife or family could be lent a helping hand. If only we would —there is actually no question of our ability, for a cheery word costs us nothing—help our fellowmen along, Life's pathway would become less narrow and rough, and peace, the glorious thing we covet, would be our reward'. So this Anzac Day, while we stand with bowed heads beside a memorial to the fallen, let us vow that we will remember the living heroes, for, while remembering the living, we shall never forget the dead.