RETURNED SOLDIERS’ SERVICE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19954, 12 November 1934, Page 12

RETURNED SOLDIERS’ SERVICE.

A special Armistice Service, which was attended by a large number of returned soldiers and members of the Legion of Frontiersmen, was held at the Congregational Church last night, the preacher being the Rev. J. Milburn Stewart, who is vice-president of the Returned Soldiers’ Association. In the course of his address, Mr Stewart said that the return of Armistice Day quickened many reflections. Sixteen years had passed since the order “cease fire” was given all over the Western Front, and the great silence descended upon the ravaged scene in which the din of conflict had resounded for rrjore than four years. The most destructive war in history, they were told was fought in order to end war, and it was to make the world safe for democracy. Millions of people the world over must have pondered them more than ever at the present time. For Armistice Day returned for the sixteenth time to find the world in anything but a composed and restful state, torn by various impulses and many doubts and misgivings, and nobody could be sure what the future might bring forth. And so that night they had assembled that they might in a fitting way remember those who gave their lives for the cause of freedom and righteousness. Mr Stewart said that standing shoulder to shoulder with the men in the trenches, he learned as he had never learned before, to know men in all their weakness, and in all their self-giving. And as he looked back, there came to his mind the vision of men who considered not themselves, who counted not the cost, but who, at the call of their country in the hour of crisis, responded to that call, and who by their gallant and glorious deeds placed the Dominion in the annals of history. ‘‘As I look on this congregation, many of you in thought remembering a son, a brother, a friend, I am compelled to ask this question—Why are you here to-night? You have come to pay your individual tributes to the men who made the supreme sacrifice, and, not only to them, but also to those who were spared to return; to those who are present with us at this hour many of them bearing the seen and unseen scars of war. You are here to show that you have not for s otten them and the sacrifice that was made. Their deeds have given to the world an inspiration which if really understood would revolutionise mankind. It would do away with all wars, all strife, and all bitterness. That inspiration is self sacrifice.” Sir Charles Fergusson, during his term as Governor-General of the Dominion, said at the laying of the foundation stone of the Soldiers’ Memorial in Wellington, “That during the war the corps under his command had, after a good deal of hard fighting, taken the town of Cambria. For four years that town had been occupied by the Germans as a great military centre. To it came thousands from all parts of the front. The wounded of all countries had been brought to the great military hospital and thousands of them had died there. One evening,” Sir Charles said, "I went out for a walk to see the cemetery where they were laid. It was a beautiful spot, a former nursery garden, in an area of perhaps six or eight acres, and in it lay thousands of all nationalities. There was no distinction between them. Here were English, French, Italians, Russians, the men of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and India, all alike; each with a small cross at his head, with his name and regimental number and regiment inscribed. At the west end of the cemetery there stood a colossal cross, and on it were inscribed the words, ‘The Sword Divides: The Cross Unites.’ As I stood there in the evening setting sun, the shadow of that great cross spread out over the whole length and breadth of the cemetery, and under the shadow of that cross lay the men of different nations, all gathered together under one common cross. There is one thing I want you to remember about that cross and it is this. It was a German General who planned that wonderful scene, ‘The Sword Divides: The Cross Unites.’” Surely there was in that inscription a message for to-day. Message of Comfort. Mr Stewart said that the first thing he found was a message of comfort to those who remembered loved ones who died on the field of battle. The Cross was the emblem of love and self-sacri-fice. It was only by remembering the lesson of the Cross, of love and selfsacrifice, that they could enter into the common rest and peace which all received who remembered that great lesson. If Germany Had V.'o'i. The speaker went on to say that in the second place, the Cross of Cambria showed that the realisation of the message it contained would do more to end war than any other fact. “In these present days I have heard it said by men, ‘That it would not have mattered much if the Germans had won the war. Our conditions could not have been much worse than they are to-day.’ ” Suppose then, that Germany had won the war. Everything that they held precious, in religious and social life, would have been lost. Every blessing, every comfort, everything that they had and enjoyed to-day, they owed to those who struggled, suffered and died, during that blood bath into which the world was plunged during the years of war. At home hundreds lived in comfort, and with their money bought war bonds, and felt they were doing their duty, as if there was any similiarity between their lives and those of the men at the front. The soldier was also doing his duty. The idea of duty rather than sacrifice had prevailed. He sometimes thought there was a great inequality of sacrifice during these years. One section of the community had to give up everything;

and on the other hand there was a section who did not give up anything, but rather made a profit out of the war. The tragedy of these days was that so many were given up to selfish greed and pleasure that they had forgotten the awful price paid in human agony and human blood to preserve their lives from doom and destruction. The great peace they had looked for had not come. And to-day that great so-called peace found them faced with even bigger problems than they had to meet during the days of war. Look at the unrest, the turmoil, the strife, the rival party claims, the commercial depression. The fact was that it was easier to unite a nation into line harmoniously and unitedly to build up the national well-being. Clarion Call. “If those who were present at service here this morning would bear with me for a moment, I would like to repeat a statement I made then,” said Mr Stewart. “Apart from my service on the Western Front during the war, I have given over fifteen years of voluntary service to His Majesty’s Forces. And I am glad to have had the opportunity of serving my fellow men in the Gospel for Christ’s sake. Such service has never once tempted me to swerve from unceasing opposition to war and the advocacy of everything that could contribute to the cause of peace. As men and women of a Christian race our main concern is to be mainly content in seeing that the youth of our country are never called to face what we had to endure during those fateful four years. Surely this is a clarion call to us, to build up a spiritual sentiment and moral force that shall constrain governments and help them to act in harmony with their agreements and practices according to their protestations. And so on this day of sacred remembrance, when we recall the death of thousands, who have died that we might live, in the presence of such a sacrifice. Are we not humbled by the thought of our unworthiness? Can any one of us assume that our life is of such infinite value as to justify such a prodigal sacrifice? Let us at this time consecrate our unity in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, who gave us victory. Let us yield ourselves to the tender mercies of God, that He may weild our Empire, our Dominion into a more intimate fellowship, into an even happier commonwealth, a commonwealth whose bond is righteousness and whose experience shall be peace and joy for evermore. ‘They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old, age shall not weary them. At the rising of the sun and at the going down of the same we shall remember them.’ ” In the silence of Armistice Day we salute them. The vision eye shall see The great and noble company That gathered there from land and sea From overland and oversea To celebrate right royally The day of victory. During the service a solo was sung by Miss M. Higgins, Miss M. Tubb presiding at the organ.