|
December 1917
Message The following message was sent
to Angmering's soldiers and their families in December 1917 by the Rev E.L.
Bull, Priest in Charge:
|
"I have only taken charge
of this parish since its Rector went on military service, but I have lived here
long enough to discover that the parish has given itself up, heart and soul, to
the prosecution of the war, and from start to finish, and all along the road,
has done its best and utmost to bring it to a successful end. For this end its
life is lived.
Practically every man of military age who is fit has
gone, and a blank in our village life is left behind. According to the last
census, our population is 1,046. Out of this number over 200 have gone on
active service, and 29 have made the supreme sacrifice. We are proud of what
our ancient parish, with its historic name and traditions, has done. These
Sussex lads are truly the sons of their forefathers - men of grit who fought
for their country in the good old days of long ago, when England achieved her
greatness and her Empire.
So we remember them, Sunday after Sunday,
within the hallowed walls of the Church of their Baptism. A Roll of Honour,
with the Laurel Wreath of Victory above it, inscribed with their names, is to
be seen in the Church, and there is also a framed list of all those who have
gone to participate in the great war.
Some of them we shall see no
more, but they have given all they could, the best and highest, and some life
itself. All are ready for any sacrifice that might be called for. And what
shall I say of those they have left behind - wife, mother, little children?
Each and all have done their duty and continued their life with unexampled
bravery and cheerfulness. There has been no complaining of the hardness of the
way. The patriotism of one and all has been a thing, not of words, but of
deeds, and of noble deeds which make no noise and are forgotten.
The
photographs of our men are in the schools, and their deeds are chronicled and
their names mentioned. I felt, as Iooked at the photographs of our soldiers and
sailors of which we are so proud, that the children of the present generation,
when they are grown up, will not be less patriotic, and will do their duty in
the same self-sacrificing spirit that their fathers have done. I feel, when I
think of the wives and mothers, that we do not realise as we ought their
difficulties and troubles.
It is not the glory of self-sacrifice, its
honours and rewards that is theirs, but the silent endurance, in the patience
of an uncomplaining spirit, of a burden which is heavy and which is ever with
them, and which is theirs alone to bear." |
|
