Contemplating War?

Happy New Year to you all.Just a little food for thought .....In 2002 my job took me to various towns around Europe. One of those towns was Laon in north eastern France. To reach it, I was flown to Paris (CDG airport), then drove along the Paris to Soisson road, thence to Laon.

Laon is a medieval walled town boasting a fine cathedral atop an imposing hill in the middle of a flat plain. The journey is very pleasant, passing through rich agricultural land with gently rolling hills and small market towns.

For the busy 21st century traveller it is all too easy to miss the terrible history of the region.

Following a meeting of the European heads of department of the company, we hired a mini-bus to take us back to Paris airport. It was a fine summers day, and one of my colleagues, a young German, asked if he could visit the grave of his grandfather on the way back. So it was that three Welshmen, an Englishman, a Spaniard, a German and an Italian entered one of the German war cemeteries on the Paris to Soisson road.

I was astounded by the place. Immaculately kept, beautifully serene and totally melancholy. 12,000 men and boys buried in perfect rows of graves headed with simple black headstones. The whole party was stunned into silence.You could trace the passage of two world wars in the inscriptions, died 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918. Then died 1939, 1940 and 1944. The youngest only 16 and the oldest 59. What a human tragedy.

I was struck by the multi-national nature of our party, and the fact that every single one of us was in awe of this place. The small museum at the entrance giving details of dates and places, each of us being touched by the lives and deaths of these men.

As we drove back towards Paris there was the growing realisation of the sheer scale of the casualties of war. Every 5 or 10 miles there would be the hitherto unnoticed entrance to yet another war cemetery. British, French, German, Canadian, thousands upon countless thousands of young men now laying in French soil.

I'm not saying that there is never any justification for war, just that if you get the opportunity to visit a war cemetery you should do so, preferably on a fine summers day. It certainly gives a new perspective on the human cost of armed conflict.