Why I remember

Monday 15 November 2021

Usually on Remembrance Sunday, my wife and I, along with many others from the Town Church, walk down to the Cenotaph and take part in the service held in town.

For a lot of people, Remembrance Sunday can be a challenging time as they recall their own sad and painful memories of loss.

On 8 November 1987, I was on parade, along with my colleagues from the Regimental Band of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire) at City Hall Belfast providing the music for Northern Ireland’s largest Remembrance Sunday parade and service. As was always the case in those days, all those on parade, service personnel, dignitaries and members of the public alike, were surrounded by heavily armed uniformed and non-uniformed security forces, as the threat of a terrorist attack was always very real.

And that threat was very real indeed for those attending the Cenotaph in Enniskillen on Remembrance Sunday 1987.

Within minutes of the explosion at the Cenotaph in Enniskillen, those attending City Hall Belfast heard very quickly the terrible news which came to us from members of the security forces carrying radio communications about their person.

It’s a day I will never forget.

However, what I also remember are the words of Gordon Wilson, father of Marie Wilson who sadly died that day. Wilsons amazing faith, his public declaration that he had no choice but to forgive those responsible for this terrible event, struck a chord with me. I was not a Christian myself in those days, in fact I could best be described as a cynic of all things religious.

Many of the most vocal about the so-called troubles were on parade in Belfast in 1987,  and I was standing very close to one of these, The Rev Dr. Ian Paisley.

There were numerous other well known faces amongst the dignitaries in Belfast who were, just as in the case of Paisley, regularly interviewed on the broadcast media offering up their own solutions for the ‘Northern Ireland problem’.

None however, it seemed to me, ever spoke with such power and conviction as Gordon Wilson, and his words of forgiveness and reconciliation possibly did more to bring about peace in Northern Ireland than may have been recognised later.

Reading again the interview given by Gordon Wilson, which I have read many times over the years, continues to inspire people who today are working for and in the hope and belief of the potential for reconciliation and peace around the worlds trouble spots.

Perhaps in the midst of so much unrest, the simple heartfelt and sincere words of Gordon Wilson needs to be heard again?

It’s why we remember and indeed why we always must and not only on Remembrance Sunday.