World War One Remembered Across the Commonwealth

:00:26. > :00:50.the verge of war. It would change the world forever.

:00:51. > :00:56.Good morning from Westminster Abbey as we begin this day of

:00:57. > :01:00.commemorations marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World

:01:01. > :01:07.War. To most people in Britain back in that summer of 1914, the names of

:01:08. > :01:11.Passiondale and the Somme were unfamiliar, they were distant, but

:01:12. > :01:15.the slaughter they came to symbolise would haunt generations to come.

:01:16. > :01:20.Yet, a century ago there was no real sense of the disaster ahead. People

:01:21. > :01:25.were wondering if Britain would get drawn into a conflict. A conflict

:01:26. > :01:30.which was already underway in mainland Europe. On 4th August,

:01:31. > :01:34.German troops had marched into Belgium, a country whose neutrality

:01:35. > :01:39.Britain had promised to defend. The British Government sent an

:01:40. > :01:45.ultimatum. Back down before 11am, London time, or Britain would

:01:46. > :01:49.declare war. And all day, the telegrams and the rumours flew

:01:50. > :01:55.around Whitehall and Westminster as the minutes ticked by. All eyes were

:01:56. > :02:01.on Big Ben. But there was no response from Berlin. And as Big Ben

:02:02. > :02:10.struck the first note of 11 o'clock that night Britain was at war with

:02:11. > :02:15.Germany. Well, tonight that moment, precisely 11pm, will be marked in

:02:16. > :02:20.Westminster Abbey with a special candle-lit vigil. And throughout the

:02:21. > :02:25.service the Abbey will move from light to darkness until just one

:02:26. > :02:30.candle remains at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior and that flame will

:02:31. > :02:35.be extinguished at 11 o'clock, the moment war was declared. This

:02:36. > :02:40.evening, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge along with Prince Harry

:02:41. > :02:50.will attend a commemoration in Belgium. It is a place of remember

:02:51. > :02:52.markable beauty, tranquillity. British and Commonwealth soldiers

:02:53. > :02:55.are buried there and German soldiers too. The Prime Minister, David

:02:56. > :03:00.Cameron, among the world leaders taking part in the event this

:03:01. > :03:04.evening. We will bring you live coverage of both events starting at

:03:05. > :03:06.6.30pm on BBC Two. We will be in Belgium first of all and we

:03:07. > :03:08.6.30pm on BBC Two. We will be in Belgium first of all and will be

:03:09. > :03:15.here at Westminster Abbey for the candle-lit service. We start with a

:03:16. > :03:19.morning service from Glasgow Cathedral which reflects the part

:03:20. > :03:20.played by the men andwomen of the Commonwealth and James Landale is

:03:21. > :03:28.there for us. Welcome everybody to a rather

:03:29. > :03:32.overcast Glasgow as the congregation continues to gather at the cathedral

:03:33. > :03:38.here for what promises to be a very special service. Not only the first

:03:39. > :03:42.national ceremony to mark the centenary of what many still called

:03:43. > :03:47.the Great War, but also a service that will reflect the extraordinary

:03:48. > :03:54.contribution and sacrifice made by those nations that now form part of

:03:55. > :04:02.the Commonwealth. In all, over 1.1 million men from Britain and what

:04:03. > :04:08.gave their lives in the First World War. Today, we will hear some hymns

:04:09. > :04:12.and prayers, but also stories, poems, letters and memoirs written

:04:13. > :04:17.by those who lived and died during those awful years. There will be the

:04:18. > :04:22.thoughts of the next generation as they visit the battlefields of

:04:23. > :04:29.Belgium and France themselves. Here to read some of the stories, the

:04:30. > :04:34.Prime Minister, senior figures from the Commonwealth gathering now and

:04:35. > :04:39.some familiar faces like Sir Trevor McDonald and Kate Adie with the

:04:40. > :04:45.Prince of Wales representing the Royal Family.

:04:46. > :04:51.We will be back with James in a short while. The service will get

:04:52. > :04:55.underway later on in Glasgow. Prince Charles will be arriving soon so

:04:56. > :05:06.we'll be back for the start of the service. With me in London are three

:05:07. > :05:11.special guests, Professor Margaret MacMillan, David Olusoga, and Juliet

:05:12. > :05:14.Nicholson who has written on the impact that the war had on the

:05:15. > :05:19.people of Britain. It is good to have you with us on this special

:05:20. > :05:24.day. I mentioned a distant conflict. For the younger generations today,

:05:25. > :05:29.it seems a distant conflict. Why is it important to be commemorating

:05:30. > :05:33.like this? It shaped the world in which we lived. For young people,

:05:34. > :05:37.they need to know about this war because its impact is so long. The

:05:38. > :05:43.shadows it cast are still with us. Much of the shape of the world was

:05:44. > :05:47.shaped by the First World War. To understand, their own world, I

:05:48. > :05:51.think, people need to understand the First World War. David, just to

:05:52. > :05:55.underline, we are looking at huge impact in terms of Britain, but we

:05:56. > :06:00.need to have that world context too and the fact this was a truly global

:06:01. > :06:04.conflict? Absolutely. The clue is in the name, World War. From the moment

:06:05. > :06:09.the first guns were fired it was a global conflict. And we sometimes

:06:10. > :06:14.forget that. Our personal tragedy in Britain has tended to overshadow

:06:15. > :06:18.that bigger global picture. We will underline that as we go along

:06:19. > :06:20.because we have wonderful stories about families and how they were

:06:21. > :06:25.affected and people from different parts of the world so we'll come

:06:26. > :06:31.back to that. Juliet, a sense from you, of the way this conflict turned

:06:32. > :06:38.British society upside down and the world of Britain after 1918 was very

:06:39. > :06:45.different? Yes, I think that the Britain of 1914ing, August 3 --

:06:46. > :06:50.1914, August 3rd is an unrecognisable place to the one we

:06:51. > :06:54.live in now. For women, it was a particularly momentous change.

:06:55. > :06:59.Sometimes in a good way. We had the vote at the end which we didn't at

:07:00. > :07:03.the beginning. But for those who continued to grieve and then

:07:04. > :07:11.obviously through a Second World War, it was the beginning of a

:07:12. > :07:15.century of intense sadness. Lots of big themes for us to talk about and

:07:16. > :07:19.one thing I want to pursue in a short while is the fact that we're

:07:20. > :07:25.still arguing about the causes of the First World War which is a hot

:07:26. > :07:30.topic for lots of historians. By the way, Margaret has her own views on

:07:31. > :07:34.how the World War began and I don't think I'll quibble with that. She

:07:35. > :07:40.presented a fascinating guide which is on the BBC World war one website

:07:41. > :07:44.and the address is coming up on the screen for you:

:07:45. > :07:50.Have a look at that, but we will be discussing it shortly as well.

:07:51. > :07:57.In 1914, Britain's military strength was based on the Royal Navy. A big

:07:58. > :08:03.contrast of the vast conscript armies of other nations. Britain's

:08:04. > :08:06.army was tiny. Just 80,000 professional soldiers of the BEF

:08:07. > :08:10.began to embark for France on 7th August and most of them expected a

:08:11. > :08:14.quick war. It will be over by Christmas, they were told. But, of

:08:15. > :08:18.course, it wasn't over by Christmas and the war engulfed the whole

:08:19. > :08:21.country. Millions of men were in uniform. Nearly every family had

:08:22. > :08:27.someone at the front or linked to the front. Families like the

:08:28. > :08:31.Andersons and Robin Scott Elliot went to the Imperial War Museum to

:08:32. > :08:35.discover for about Bertie Anderson who died in 1918 leading his men

:08:36. > :08:38.against the largest German attack of the war.

:08:39. > :08:42.received the Victoria Cross for his bravery of that day.

:08:43. > :08:45.He never saw this medal, never knew of the award,

:08:46. > :08:48.but it is a link to him, a symbol by which he can be remembered,

:08:49. > :08:50.as a young man who did an extraordinary thing

:08:51. > :08:59.Bertie came from a prosperous Glasgow family.

:09:00. > :09:02.Willie and Nora Anderson had four sons,

:09:03. > :09:16.Charlie was the first of the boys to go to war.

:09:17. > :09:18.He was the second youngest and actually a professional soldier.

:09:19. > :09:21.Generally, there was to begin with an eagerness about going to war,

:09:22. > :09:24.this is what they were training for, they were looking forward to it,

:09:25. > :09:29.he wrote a letter home to his mother Nora

:09:30. > :09:33.that said, "So glad we will all be in this together."

:09:34. > :09:36.But after just eight days in the trenches,

:09:37. > :09:39.Charlie was declared missing in action.

:09:40. > :09:44.Nora had to wait eight months until his death was officially confirmed.

:09:45. > :09:48.Eight months of clinging to some sort of hope that he may be alive

:09:49. > :09:51.and even when that official confirmation came, you still knew

:09:52. > :09:54.that you couldn't have your children home to bury them.

:09:55. > :09:58.felt his duty was to replace Charlie.

:09:59. > :10:04.Ronnie was seen as being a wee bit scatty.

:10:05. > :10:10.because he wrote a letter back to Nora

:10:11. > :10:12.when he was actually in the trenches in 1915

:10:13. > :10:16.that said, "If I get killed, don't say 'So like Ron's careless way.'"

:10:17. > :10:27.A month later he was shot dead, picked off by a German sniper.

:10:28. > :10:31.Nora had lost two sons within the space of a year.

:10:32. > :10:35.If you flick through it, there is picture after picture

:10:36. > :10:39.There are a few of Bertie, the eldest,

:10:40. > :10:42.but there's very little in there of Charlie or Ronnie.

:10:43. > :10:45.Perhaps that's the way she found to try and cope with it all,

:10:46. > :10:51.by trying to bury the memory of what she had lost.

:10:52. > :10:53.Teddie joined up straight from school

:10:54. > :10:56.and you look at all the pictures of him,

:10:57. > :11:00.Theres a zest for life that's obvious there.

:11:01. > :11:04.He used to write long letters home to his mother and father.

:11:05. > :11:07.He describes one particular raid that they went on

:11:08. > :11:08.shortly before the Battle of the Somme

:11:09. > :11:10.to shoot down some German observation balloons

:11:11. > :11:13.and he talks about how, when they flew home afterwards,

:11:14. > :11:17.his plane was shot at by the anti-aircraft guns

:11:18. > :11:21.that he sang lustily all the way home.

:11:22. > :11:24.Teddie survived his six-month tour at the front,

:11:25. > :11:27.returning to become a flying instructor in Hampshire.

:11:28. > :11:33.He was killed in a training accident aged just 21.

:11:34. > :11:40.Robin's great-grandfather Bertie was also killed in France.

:11:41. > :11:48.Their mother Nora had lost all four of her children to the war.

:11:49. > :11:53.which I think sums up the tragedy of the Andersons' family,

:11:54. > :12:01.that must have affected so many families across the country.

:12:02. > :12:06."hear the sound of their returning feet.

:12:07. > :12:09."No more merry meals around the family table,

:12:10. > :12:26."no more letters to write, no more letters to wait for."

:12:27. > :12:32.A sense of the scale of the losses we're talking about in the First

:12:33. > :12:37.World War. Today that in Glasgow Cathedral where people are gathering

:12:38. > :12:42.for this morning's service, the four Anderson Brothers, they are call

:12:43. > :12:49.commemorated on a plaque at the back of the cathedral. So really

:12:50. > :12:56.interesting to incorporate that story in our day's events today.

:12:57. > :13:01.Juliet, I'm bound to ask you at this stage, that's a huge burden for any

:13:02. > :13:08.family to carry afterwards in 1918. That scale of loss for one family.

:13:09. > :13:13.How typical was that? Well, that example of the Anderson family

:13:14. > :13:17.brings the reality of the war. The individual stories, of course, we

:13:18. > :13:21.talk about these enormous numbers which are almost impossible to

:13:22. > :13:26.comprehend, when you hear the specifics of that, if you go around

:13:27. > :13:30.any of the memorials in any village green or town centre in the whole of

:13:31. > :13:35.Britain, you will find again and again the repeated loss of the same

:13:36. > :13:42.name from the same family. Sometimes three, sometimes even as many as

:13:43. > :13:47.four. In the Anderson's case and the reality at the time of that was

:13:48. > :13:54.sometimes unbearable that a telegram that would come saying, "Missing in

:13:55. > :14:00.action" Or even with the announcement of the death remained

:14:01. > :14:07.unopened on the mantelpiece framed with forget me nots. They had

:14:08. > :14:11.beautiful photo frames and that telegram might remain there up until

:14:12. > :14:17.the end of the war because there was also a sense that if somebody had

:14:18. > :14:22.died during the war, somehow or other, without as was mentioned in

:14:23. > :14:29.the film, any repatriation of the bodies, any tangible evidence, any

:14:30. > :14:34.funeral, any grave, maybe at the end of the war things would go back to

:14:35. > :14:38.normal and all that that involved. Margaret, I was struck there, we're

:14:39. > :14:43.talking about Charlie's death in that family. Eight months to wait

:14:44. > :14:47.for confirmation of the death. And the fact that Juliet said, of

:14:48. > :14:52.course, that millions were just missing for months and sometimes

:14:53. > :14:56.years, no confirmation at all. You're here today, partly

:14:57. > :14:59.representing Canada if I can say that given your nationality. Was

:15:00. > :15:04.that the Canadian experience, too? Yes, Canada came into the war

:15:05. > :15:08.automatically as part of the British Empire. We weren't asked if we

:15:09. > :15:14.wanted to be in, but we did want to be in. 60,000 Canadians died out of

:15:15. > :15:16.a population of seven million, so almost everybody in Canada would

:15:17. > :15:19.have known someone who died. One of the awful things about the First

:15:20. > :15:22.World War was the industrial nature of it and we were good by that point

:15:23. > :15:27.at killing people and often people were blown to pieces and so there

:15:28. > :15:32.wasn't even a body that you could go to. There wasn't a tangible proof of

:15:33. > :15:36.death and I think that must have made it harder for people, not even

:15:37. > :15:41.to have a place where they could go to commemorate the ones who had

:15:42. > :15:46.gone. David, a thought on that? This decision that we made to bury people

:15:47. > :15:55.in situ in the battlefields is what has given us this wonderful image of

:15:56. > :16:00.cemeteries which are the great repostry of loss and memory, but

:16:01. > :16:04.there was a cost to tham That for families -- to that for families who

:16:05. > :16:07.never saw bodies, there is good and bad about that. Looking at the

:16:08. > :16:10.beautiful cemeteries, you think, they're one of the reasons that

:16:11. > :16:15.we're here today remembering that war. We will see one later on today

:16:16. > :16:26.in Belgium. We will be back there for the evening event. In the 37

:16:27. > :16:35.days following the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand. When it came

:16:36. > :16:41.the declaration of war took people by surprise. Dan Snow has been

:16:42. > :16:42.looking at events when people were concerned about matters closer to

:16:43. > :16:44.home. In many ways,

:16:45. > :16:45.British people in 1914 were much more prosperous

:16:46. > :16:48.than they had ever been. New welfare reforms were beginning

:16:49. > :16:50.to have a real effect People had more time and money

:16:51. > :16:57.to enjoy themselves. Cinemas were opening up

:16:58. > :17:00.in almost every town and city, theatres played

:17:01. > :17:02.to packed audiences, and funfairs filled every park

:17:03. > :17:04.and village green with the latest thrill-seeking rides

:17:05. > :17:09.at weekends and holidays. But the thrills were not simply

:17:10. > :17:12.for the fairground. Across the country,

:17:13. > :17:15.football experienced a boom. By 1914, the game of the man

:17:16. > :17:18.of the street had reached

:17:19. > :17:21.a more professional status, peaking in April when the King

:17:22. > :17:24.attended the FA Cup Final that life in Britain

:17:25. > :17:33.was all skittles and sunshine. beneath the fun and frolics

:17:34. > :17:39.of late Edwardian England. The years before the war saw

:17:40. > :17:42.a wave of industrial activity with workers across mining,

:17:43. > :17:45.agriculture and transport industries downing tools in protest

:17:46. > :17:53.at pay and conditions. Ireland was the number one problem

:17:54. > :17:57.for Prime Minister Asquith. The Government had struggled to get

:17:58. > :18:00.support for its Home Rule Bill, which aimed to give Ireland

:18:01. > :18:05.its own parliament. Peaceful protest against the bill

:18:06. > :18:08.in Ulster was in jeopardy as paramilitary

:18:09. > :18:11.activity threatened to erupt. Whilst the British Army

:18:12. > :18:14.were on the verge of mutiny, refusing to support the Government

:18:15. > :18:18.on the issue. But on the streets of Britain

:18:19. > :18:21.in the months before the war it was the Suffragettes who

:18:22. > :18:49.were causing the most disruption. In March 1914 it was destroyed. Mary

:18:50. > :18:52.came to London and entered the National Gallery under the pretext

:18:53. > :19:01.of doing a painting study and when the cost was clear, she took a

:19:02. > :19:09.hatchet to the painting. Mayor's art attack spurned a wave of copycat

:19:10. > :19:16.incidents. The behaviour of the suffragettes was beginning to become

:19:17. > :19:21.a nuisance. Whether it was escapism from

:19:22. > :19:27.troubled times or part of a life of leisure, a good book was as popular

:19:28. > :19:33.at the start of the 20th century as it is now. The most popular genre

:19:34. > :19:39.was something called Invasion Literature and the villains in the

:19:40. > :19:45.books were nearly always German. Books such as When William Came and

:19:46. > :19:51.Riddle of the Sands were popular. But the smash hit of the decade was

:19:52. > :19:56.the Invasion of 1910. By 1914, this had sold one million copies. These

:19:57. > :19:59.were the kind of books that were flying off the shelves of libraries

:20:00. > :20:06.and bookshops at the turn of the century and some were sensationally

:20:07. > :20:10.serialised in the tabloids. Newspaper headlines started to

:20:11. > :20:15.reflect the long running naval arms race that was going on between

:20:16. > :20:20.Britain and Germany. It may seem remarkable now, but in the summer

:20:21. > :20:25.1914, for the majority of Britons, the idea of war against Germany

:20:26. > :20:32.existed mainly on the pages of their favourite fiction.

:20:33. > :20:38.That was Dan Snow and that's fascinating just to really look at

:20:39. > :20:43.the rapid sequence of events and underline the fact that today, as we

:20:44. > :20:47.think back a century ago, the declaration of war took people by

:20:48. > :20:53.surprise. We may imagine it was a gradual process, but it want. We

:20:54. > :20:58.have got three wonderful images. This is the socialist leader

:20:59. > :21:01.addressing a peace rally, a big peace rally which took place in

:21:02. > :21:06.Trafalgar Square. That was on the 2nd August. Just a couple of days

:21:07. > :21:10.before war was declared. I'm going to pass that to you, Margaret, if

:21:11. > :21:14.you wouldn't mind having a look at that while I show viewers the next

:21:15. > :21:20.one. This is the scene, if you can just see it, that's Buckingham

:21:21. > :21:24.Palace clearly and the balcony, not the central balcony we're used to,

:21:25. > :21:28.but the balcony at the right-hand side of the palace, that was after

:21:29. > :21:31.war was declared on the 4th. That's a century ago tonight. Lots of

:21:32. > :21:35.cheering crowds. We will ask Margaret and the others why that was

:21:36. > :21:40.the case? That's the day war was declared. This is the next day,

:21:41. > :21:45.lookment this is one -- look. This is one little screen on the Strand.

:21:46. > :21:51.People queuing up to have a look at what the news was. Lots of

:21:52. > :22:00.reservists being called up and people really wanting the details of

:22:01. > :22:08.how they do it. There is a group of Boy Scouts. They are nice images.

:22:09. > :22:11.Margaret, the suddenness of it. Why were people taken by surprise?

:22:12. > :22:14.Partly because it was summer holidays and they were thinking of

:22:15. > :22:16.other things of the in Britain, they were more concerned about Ireland.

:22:17. > :22:20.They hadn't been noticing what was going on in the Continent and

:22:21. > :22:24.finally because they had other crisis in the Balkans, they had

:22:25. > :22:29.three recently and so all over Europe, not just in England people

:22:30. > :22:34.were saying,"It is another crisis in the Balkans. There will be a bit of

:22:35. > :22:39.mobilising as putting pressure on the other side, but they'll sort it

:22:40. > :22:47.out. Sir Edward Gray will get in touch with her counterparts and it

:22:48. > :22:51.will be OK." There was a dangerous come complacency. David, just a

:22:52. > :22:55.thought there as well about the suddenness of it all. Not just in

:22:56. > :23:00.British terms, but because Britain had its big empire at that time,

:23:01. > :23:04.these decisions, impacted millions of people across the world? That's

:23:05. > :23:11.right. The moment Britain declares war 100 years ago today, people in

:23:12. > :23:14.Africa, in Asia, in India, people on islands in the Pacific find

:23:15. > :23:19.themselves part of an empire that's at war. For a crisis that seemed too

:23:20. > :23:26.small. It seemed to come out of nowhere. There were lots of

:23:27. > :23:33.political assassinations. It seems too small a thing to mobilise an

:23:34. > :23:37.empire. Crowd outside the Palace, was if we believe the reports at the

:23:38. > :23:41.time, cheering. They were desperate to see the Royal Family, desperate

:23:42. > :23:49.to see the king at the balcony and they were in quite, well, is it fair

:23:50. > :23:54.to say, a strident and aggressive mood. What was to account for that

:23:55. > :23:59.public mood at the time. Were people thinking it was a good thing or not?

:24:00. > :24:04.There had been only five weeks, but it was five weeks of rumour and

:24:05. > :24:07.building whispers, whispers getting louder and talk getting more

:24:08. > :24:11.constant. Even though it was the summer holidays, people were

:24:12. > :24:18.beginning to have some awareness that this was serious and so maybe

:24:19. > :24:25.there was a sense of not exactly relief, but perhaps anticipation

:24:26. > :24:31.about what would happen next, not exactly excitement, but some kind of

:24:32. > :24:37.general looking to where we were going. Where we were going. What's

:24:38. > :24:45.so interesting about some of the photographs is that it emphasises

:24:46. > :24:50.the communication in 1914. It was done very often obviously through

:24:51. > :24:55.the newspapers, but in person. Yes. So you had to go to the place to ask

:24:56. > :24:58.what was going on. You were outside Buckingham Palace. You were outside

:24:59. > :25:02.Downing Street. You were in Whitehall. You crowded into

:25:03. > :25:07.Trafalgar Square to make your voice heard. I think you know, there was

:25:08. > :25:12.no obviously no television. There was no telephone. The telephone

:25:13. > :25:19.boxes had gone up in Paris that summer. There was no internet. There

:25:20. > :25:25.was no wireless. No radio. That came after the war. So you needed to go

:25:26. > :25:31.to a place and I think the sort of general infection of being in a

:25:32. > :25:35.crowd often results in the demonstration of emotion. That's a

:25:36. > :25:39.powerful point to make. Again, when we think just the way that

:25:40. > :25:43.information was shared, people were desperate for news and couldn't get

:25:44. > :25:50.it unless they turned up in places like the office there on the Strand

:25:51. > :25:53.to get the news. OK, we will pick up on that in a moment. In a short

:25:54. > :25:56.while we will be going to Glasgow Cathedral where the part played by

:25:57. > :26:02.the Commonwealth nations will be remembered. In 1914, one in four

:26:03. > :26:05.people in the world were part of this great British Empire and

:26:06. > :26:08.millions of them served alongside British forces. David here, has been

:26:09. > :26:12.looking at the stories of some of the men who travelled thousands of

:26:13. > :26:21.miles from their homes in Canada and South Africa to the Western Front.

:26:22. > :26:24.The South Africa monument and cemetery at Delville Wood in France

:26:25. > :26:28.is the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Somme.

:26:29. > :26:37.lost their lives here in the summer of 1916.

:26:38. > :26:40.For six days, three South African battalions

:26:41. > :26:44.fought continuously to defend these woods.

:26:45. > :26:46.They were subjected to a bombardment of such intensity

:26:47. > :26:49.that the trees themselves were destroyed.

:26:50. > :26:53.The South African 1st Brigade lost 80% of their men,

:26:54. > :27:00.yet somehow they still managed to hold onto these woods.

:27:01. > :27:07.commemorates these fallen servicemen.

:27:08. > :27:12.This bronze relief is a depiction of the service and the bravery

:27:13. > :27:16.of the white South African soldiers who fought in the First World War.

:27:17. > :27:21.But over here behind them is a depiction of black South Africans

:27:22. > :27:23.who were also recruited by their government

:27:24. > :27:31.They played a very different role in the First World War.

:27:32. > :27:40.joined the South African Native Force.

:27:41. > :27:43.The white rulers of South Africa had done everything they could

:27:44. > :27:46.to keep precision weapons out of the hands of black Africans,

:27:47. > :27:48.and they were only willing to consider sending

:27:49. > :27:52.black South Africans to the war in Europe if they were segregated

:27:53. > :27:56.from the white civilian population, and on no account were they

:27:57. > :28:01.to be armed, trained or allowed to take part in the fighting.

:28:02. > :28:05.Instead, black South Africans were put to work

:28:06. > :28:08.building roads and railways, and handling supplies,

:28:09. > :28:15.work which was just as vital as that on the front line.

:28:16. > :28:18.Native South Africans travelled thousands of miles from home

:28:19. > :28:22.to supply the army that went on to win the war.

:28:23. > :28:24.Their story, often all too forgotten,

:28:25. > :28:33.is the other half of South Africa's contribution to World War I.

:28:34. > :28:39.the British Empire had called for support from Canada.

:28:40. > :28:46.almost 33,000 Canadian volunteers joined up to fight.

:28:47. > :28:51.Canada was a dominion of the British Empire,

:28:52. > :28:54.a young country made up of recent immigrants

:28:55. > :28:58.and the remnants of her ancient indigenous people

:28:59. > :29:00.but of that first group of Canadian volunteers,

:29:01. > :29:06.They were committed to the Empire, hostile to Germany,

:29:07. > :29:16.and by early 1915 they were here at the front.

:29:17. > :29:19.But the battles of Ypres and the Somme

:29:20. > :29:25.took a horrific toll on Canadian troops.

:29:26. > :29:27.As a result her indigenous people, known as Canadian Indians,

:29:28. > :29:31.or Bloods, were allowed to volunteer.

:29:32. > :29:33.Mike Mountain Horse was a Blood Indian from Alberta.

:29:34. > :29:37.in a successful Allied attack at Vimy Ridge.

:29:38. > :29:39.He describes performing a ritual before battle

:29:40. > :29:42.with his friend George Strangling Wolf.

:29:43. > :29:44.George Strangling Wolf took his knife

:29:45. > :29:47.and cut off a strip of flesh from around his knee,

:29:48. > :29:51.he then raised it up to the sun and made the prayer, "Help me, Sun,

:29:52. > :29:55."to survive this terrible war that I may see my relatives again."

:29:56. > :30:00.He then buried a piece of his own flesh in the soil.

:30:01. > :30:02.These were men who had travelled thousands of miles

:30:03. > :30:05.to fight in a hi-tech industrial war,

:30:06. > :30:10.the ancient warrior traditions of their people.

:30:11. > :30:13.Perhaps the sun spirits listened, because Mike Mountain Horse

:30:14. > :30:21.survived the war and returned home in 1919.

:30:22. > :30:24.The First World War brought to battlefields like this one

:30:25. > :30:27.millions of men who fought and who laboured and suffered,

:30:28. > :30:31.if not in equality at least side by side.

:30:32. > :30:35.And what perhaps has been forgotten is that their presence meant that

:30:36. > :30:39.became the most diverse, the most multicultural places

:30:40. > :30:55.David, it is a remarkable story and we can explore aspects of this

:30:56. > :31:00.centenary that automatically don't come to find so we will focus really

:31:01. > :31:04.on the British and that's right, but when you see the contribution made

:31:05. > :31:10.by people from different parts of the world, the way you told the

:31:11. > :31:13.story there was moving. Motivation, can we talk about that? This is

:31:14. > :31:16.interesting, the psychology involved and the men you are reporting on

:31:17. > :31:23.there, did they want to fight for Britain? Did they feel just a duty

:31:24. > :31:27.and what was the motivation and the psychology behind that? Some

:31:28. > :31:34.soldiers already are soldiers in 1914 and the Indians who come over

:31:35. > :31:38.have a strong sense of their warrior traditions. They are professional

:31:39. > :31:43.soldiers and they are going to fight in France as they would have on the

:31:44. > :31:47.north-west frontier. There is a moment in 1914 that we've forgotten,

:31:48. > :31:51.when there was enthusiasm in many parts of the empire for this great

:31:52. > :31:55.collective endeavour, this Great War. There is volunteering in Canada

:31:56. > :31:59.and Australia, Newfoundland as there is in Britain. There is, of course,

:32:00. > :32:03.the reality that people don't know the war they're going to and rather

:32:04. > :32:07.like the volunteers in this city who rushed to the recruitment offices

:32:08. > :32:12.100 years ago this weekend, they didn't know the reality. That moment

:32:13. > :32:18.of 1914 is a moment of naivety, as well as a poignant moment of

:32:19. > :32:24.tragedy. Will people in Canada look back a century? How is the First

:32:25. > :32:28.World War viewed today? It is viewed as a very important part of our

:32:29. > :32:32.history. It is a time when we paid a terrible price. We lost over 65,000

:32:33. > :32:38.soldiers, but it is a moment where we grew up a bit. We were an

:32:39. > :32:41.adolescent and by the end of the First World War, we moved a long way

:32:42. > :32:47.towards independence. We had a greater sense of our selves. We

:32:48. > :32:53.thought part way through the war, we fought together and we began to see

:32:54. > :33:00.ourselves as part of the British Empire, but a distinct role in it.

:33:01. > :33:07.We mentioned there the fact that there was this remarkable mix of

:33:08. > :33:11.cultures taking place. Did that in some way inform people's attitudes

:33:12. > :33:14.during and after the war to people of different races, people of

:33:15. > :33:22.different backgrounds? Was that a noticeable effect or not? I mean,

:33:23. > :33:28.there are some shocking stories. There are some particularly from in

:33:29. > :33:35.Sussex where some of the Indian soldiers who had been injured and

:33:36. > :33:40.were in hospital in Brighton in the Royal Pavilion way was turned into

:33:41. > :33:44.an enormous hospital, there was much racist taunting and they remaybed

:33:45. > :33:48.there to re-- remained there to recuperate after the war and it was

:33:49. > :33:53.after the war that the kind of fall-out happened and race riots and

:33:54. > :34:02.so on in Birmingham, in Liverpool, and so on. So although it would be

:34:03. > :34:07.nice to say that there was a general love-in, there is a lot of evidence

:34:08. > :34:12.to suggest to confirm that there wasn't. Well, we have a powerful

:34:13. > :34:15.story about Indian involvement coming up, it is a good thing to

:34:16. > :34:19.remind ourselves. Thank you very much for now. So, lots of people

:34:20. > :34:20.arriving now in Glasgow at the cathedral there for the service.

:34:21. > :34:30.Let's join James. Well, the stage is almost set now

:34:31. > :34:36.for the service. Most of the congregation inside. We are

:34:37. > :34:41.expecting 1400 people in all to make up those here at the service.

:34:42. > :34:49.Waiting expectedly, representatives of the Commonwealth, we have got

:34:50. > :34:54.presidents, Prime Ministers, High Commissioners, but also senior

:34:55. > :35:00.political figures from across the political spectrum. Alex Salmond

:35:01. > :35:05.there, the First Minister of Scotland, behind him the Chancellor,

:35:06. > :35:11.George Osborne and of course Kate Adie who will take a part in the

:35:12. > :35:17.service. There you can see in the front row the Deputy Prime Minister,

:35:18. > :35:22.Nick Clegg, the Leader of the Opposition and hid nn the middle of

:35:23. > :35:27.that, you can't see him, the Defence Minister here because he is the

:35:28. > :35:36.grandson of the commander in general. And here too we can see the

:35:37. > :35:37.governor's general of Scotland and Australia and my colleague spoke to

:35:38. > :35:45.them earlier. Various guests and dignitaries are

:35:46. > :35:50.filtering into Glasgow Cathedral for the beginning of the service which

:35:51. > :35:56.will take place at 10am. I'm joined by the Governor General of Australia

:35:57. > :36:02.Sir Peter Cosgrove. In 1914, Australia had a population of about

:36:03. > :36:09.four million and 400,000 men signed up. They weren't conscriptions, they

:36:10. > :36:12.enlisted to join. Why was there a strong commitment to join? There was

:36:13. > :36:21.a deep commitment to the British Empire and there was a thought while

:36:22. > :36:26.we were a diminution, our routesst roots were back with the mother

:36:27. > :36:32.country. And we talk of it as a World War,

:36:33. > :36:36.but for Australians and a lot of the soldiers from all over the

:36:37. > :36:39.Commonwealth who fought, it was a global war, wasn't it? It was.

:36:40. > :36:44.Australians initially enlisted to fight in Europe, but ended up

:36:45. > :36:55.fighting as well in the Middle East on the way through and ended up on

:36:56. > :36:59.the fields of France and Flanders. When you are in the cathedral this

:37:00. > :37:02.morning, Sir Peter, what will you be thinking? What does it mean to you

:37:03. > :37:06.to be here today? Well, you spoke about the over 400,000 men and women

:37:07. > :37:10.who signed up and wore their country's uniform in far off fields,

:37:11. > :37:16.I will be thinking of them and of the 60,000 who were killed that

:37:17. > :37:21.remains the highest level of casualties per enlistment for

:37:22. > :37:25.Australia. 156,000 were wounded or gassed or made prisoner and all of

:37:26. > :37:28.those lives and their families were affected. Australia lost its

:37:29. > :37:34.international innocence, if I can put it that way in World War I and

:37:35. > :37:40.we are a wiser, if not necessarily always a trouble-free nation. Sir

:37:41. > :37:45.Peter, thank you very much for Talk taking the -- for taking the time to

:37:46. > :37:54.talk to us. How let's hear some of the voices of the soldiers. These

:37:55. > :37:59.memories were recorded 1943. The trench is half full of mud. Oh,

:38:00. > :38:06.frightful. You have no idea what it was. You lived in dugouts and you

:38:07. > :38:12.were up to your ankles in mud. You would make up in the morning with

:38:13. > :38:16.the snow over your feet and you were always in dampness. I'm joined by

:38:17. > :38:20.the Governor General from New Zealand, Sir Jerry Mateparae. Thank

:38:21. > :38:27.you for taking to me this morning. New Zealand, a tiny nation in 1914.

:38:28. > :38:32.One million people, yet again 10%, of New Zealanders fought during

:38:33. > :38:37.World War I. Why was there such a commitment? It was a connection like

:38:38. > :38:41.Australia to the mother land. Lots of our people had claimed their

:38:42. > :38:45.roots from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England. So there was a deep

:38:46. > :38:50.connection. The majority of our soldiers though were born in New

:38:51. > :38:54.Zealand. We were British. We claimed to be British as well. There was a

:38:55. > :38:58.strong sense. There was a sense of community at home and you know,

:38:59. > :39:04.joining up with mates and going off on a big adventure unfortunately, it

:39:05. > :39:07.didn't prove to be that much of an adventureful It wasn't just people

:39:08. > :39:20.of British descent in Australia who signed up. Over 2,000 Maori? That's

:39:21. > :39:27.right. We fought alongside the Australians on the fields in France

:39:28. > :39:34.and now Belgium. And also elsewhere. This service has a personal meaning

:39:35. > :39:41.to you, too? My two grandfathers fought in the World War I. One was

:39:42. > :39:51.gassed and had to return home and we're remembering the people in

:39:52. > :40:02.Britain who supported us at Brockenhurst and where our soldiers

:40:03. > :40:06.could con valesced. Thank you very much for talking to me. We will be

:40:07. > :40:11.back at the cathedral shortly for when the service starts. It is so

:40:12. > :40:18.important for us to underline that service is all about celebrating, in

:40:19. > :40:25.the right sense of that word, the courage and the great sense of duty

:40:26. > :40:28.and of course, the sacrifice of those who took part in the

:40:29. > :40:33.Commonwealth nations and one of the most remarkable stories involved the

:40:34. > :40:37.Indian Army which began to mobilise four days after Britain declared

:40:38. > :40:43.war. One in three soldiers under British command in France, one in

:40:44. > :40:51.three, was from India and the grandsons of two soldiers remember a

:40:52. > :40:53.friendship that was forged in the trenches and united the two families

:40:54. > :40:56.for generations. That's a very fine photograph,

:40:57. > :40:58.isn't it, of those two? Manta Singh and George Henderson

:40:59. > :41:07.side by side. My grandfather's name

:41:08. > :41:12.was Manta Singh. When he finished his schooling,

:41:13. > :41:16.he joined the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs. Later on it was known

:41:17. > :41:19.as the 2nd Sikhs, He was more or less second

:41:20. > :41:28.in command to George Henderson. George Burton Henderson was the son

:41:29. > :41:34.of an Indian army officer, brought up initially

:41:35. > :41:38.in southern India. He went onto Sandhurst

:41:39. > :41:42.and won the Sword of Honour in 1909, before accepting a commission

:41:43. > :41:48.into the 15th Sikhs. He would not have spoken

:41:49. > :41:52.the language, and he would have been ignorant

:41:53. > :41:55.of many of the customs. and helped him manage

:41:56. > :42:02.the relationships with the men. In 1914,

:42:03. > :42:05.the British Expeditionary Force had not been able to withstand

:42:06. > :42:08.the German attacks, and so they threw the Indian Army

:42:09. > :42:11.in, My grandfather was in one of the

:42:12. > :42:21.early actions at Neuve Chapelle. He was shot through both legs

:42:22. > :42:24.above the knees. Fortunately, Subedar Manta Singh

:42:25. > :42:30.rescued him. that he was bringing him back

:42:31. > :42:39.in a wheelbarrow which my grandfather found

:42:40. > :42:43.in no-man's-land. Sadly Manta Singh subsequently

:42:44. > :42:47.was wounded severely and declined to have a leg amputated because

:42:48. > :42:51.he wished to stay in the regiment. He was brought to hospital

:42:52. > :42:55.in Brighton, for Hindus and Sikhs to be cremated

:42:56. > :43:14.in a village known as Patcham. to remember the fallen heroes

:43:15. > :43:21.who died for Britain. And I feel very proud to see my

:43:22. > :43:32.grandfather's name inscribed there. It's a beautiful photograph,

:43:33. > :43:36.this is. It's surprising, looking

:43:37. > :43:41.at our grandfathers' photograph they're also standing side by side,

:43:42. > :43:45.and here we are side by side again. We have seen emerge

:43:46. > :43:55.a great friendship It was initiated by two military

:43:56. > :44:05.men over 100 years ago, and I think that's something

:44:06. > :44:21.which is well worth commemorating. the figures are enormous, aren't

:44:22. > :44:27.they? In terms of the Indian context 74,000 Indian troops killed, 67,000

:44:28. > :44:36.wounded. The Indians earning over 9,000 deck declarations. It is a

:44:37. > :44:39.very, very moving tale of co-operation and caring and

:44:40. > :44:43.collaboration which has lasted until today and it is a very nice thing

:44:44. > :44:49.for us to be able to share, isn't it, David? The old Indian Army was

:44:50. > :44:55.an incredible organisation that came out of the war of independence. It

:44:56. > :44:59.was a really sophisticated multi-cultural organisation and it

:45:00. > :45:02.created these sort of relationships, but what's important to remember

:45:03. > :45:07.about the Indian contribution to the First World War is not that, in some

:45:08. > :45:10.tokenistic way we can should remember it. It is questionable

:45:11. > :45:13.whether the British Army could have held the lines and pushed the

:45:14. > :45:20.Germans back at Ypres without the Indian contribution? It not a nice

:45:21. > :45:25.thing to remember. The Indians were central to our army in 1914 and

:45:26. > :45:28.1915. The extent of the contribution is probably something lots of people

:45:29. > :45:34.haven't really grasped over the years? 1.4 million Indian soldiers

:45:35. > :45:38.served in the First World War. And there were tensions, of course,

:45:39. > :45:42.there were Juliet and there were racial tensions in some areas, we

:45:43. > :45:46.need to underline that. But that story is a story of people getting

:45:47. > :45:50.along and caring for each other, despite differences? Yes, and I

:45:51. > :45:54.think that if you had fought together side by side, whatever race

:45:55. > :46:02.you were, whatever age, whatever class, whatever background, there

:46:03. > :46:06.was a bond that was absolutely life lasting and that's an example of it.

:46:07. > :46:09.Exactly there. Thank you very much for the moment because the service

:46:10. > :46:15.is about to begin in Glasgow Cathedral. So let's join James.

:46:16. > :46:28.The Prince of Wales arrives at the cathedral here. He is greeted by the

:46:29. > :46:32.Lord Lieutenant and the minister, the Reverend Dr Laurence Whitley who

:46:33. > :46:49.will be in charge of today's service. I say The Prince of Wales,

:46:50. > :46:56.I should more correctly call him the Duke of Rothsy. That's one of the

:46:57. > :47:10.five titles he has. A title he held since 1952. He is being greeted by

:47:11. > :47:24.the Clergy. Flanked on both sides by what are called the path liners from

:47:25. > :47:28.all three services. There is just a moment's pause as the Prince has a

:47:29. > :47:38.quick chat to one of the sailors. They are all serving on HMS Duncan,

:47:39. > :47:50.one of the latest type-42 destroyers currently moored not far from here

:47:51. > :47:52.on the Clyde. The start of the service will be announced by the

:47:53. > :47:56.fanfare. # I will life up mine eyes

:47:57. > :49:54.unto the hills # So that the sun shall not

:49:55. > :50:34.burn thee by day # The Lord shall preserve

:50:35. > :50:49.thy going out we gather as citizens

:50:50. > :51:26.of the Commonwealth to join in this service

:51:27. > :51:29.of commemoration, and we do so in the company of

:51:30. > :51:34.countless others across the world who are able, in this broadcast,

:51:35. > :51:40.to share it with us. We meet because

:51:41. > :51:43.on a summer's day like this one, Our nations and peoples

:51:44. > :51:54.found themselves in a war the like of which had never

:51:55. > :51:58.before been experienced, and the memory of which

:51:59. > :52:08.still haunts us all. Today and in times to come, we will

:52:09. > :52:11.hear much of inexpressible sadness, but also of selfless courage,

:52:12. > :52:15.of striving to do the right thing, of defending freedom,

:52:16. > :52:19.and the rule of law by the then United Kingdom

:52:20. > :52:22.of Great Britain and Ireland as well as the dominions

:52:23. > :52:25.and territories In this, the first of many services

:52:26. > :52:33.of commemoration and remembrance of the Great War to be held today

:52:34. > :52:38.and over the next four years, to pray for peace and goodwill

:52:39. > :52:47.amongst the nations, to honour, to remember

:52:48. > :53:00.and to learn. The first hymn is Great God, Your

:53:01. > :53:12.Love Has Called Us Here. # Great God, your love

:53:13. > :53:18.has called us here # Though marred, dishonoured,

:53:19. > :53:39.disobeyed # We come with all

:53:40. > :53:45.our heart and mind # Your call to hear your love

:53:46. > :53:56.to find # Half-free, half-bound

:53:57. > :54:15.by inner chains # By powers and systems

:54:16. > :54:28.close confined # Great God, in Christ

:54:29. > :54:45.you call our name # Not through some merit,

:54:46. > :54:58.right or claim # We strain to glimpse

:54:59. > :55:12.your mercy seat # Great God, in Christ

:55:13. > :55:28.you set us free # Your life to live,

:55:29. > :55:36.your joy to share # To turn from guilt

:55:37. > :55:50.and dull despair # While love is making

:55:51. > :56:11.all things new. # How excellent is thy

:56:12. > :56:15.loving-kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men

:56:16. > :56:18.put their trust Almighty God, by your hand

:56:19. > :56:45.the universe was formed and sun and stars

:56:46. > :56:50.set in their courses. In love, you claimed us

:56:51. > :56:54.as your children and placed us in our world

:56:55. > :56:57.of beauty and light, that we should live

:56:58. > :57:02.as brothers and sisters. On this day, we declare

:57:03. > :57:06.our sadness that through the ages we have so often failed

:57:07. > :57:10.to live in peace, and that fear and violence

:57:11. > :57:15.ever dog our footsteps. Forgive us our failure

:57:16. > :57:20.to be all that we should be, and as today we give thanks for

:57:21. > :57:25.those who have set us an example in their standing fast

:57:26. > :57:28.and holding nothing back as they strove to uphold freedom

:57:29. > :57:34.and secure our peace, remind us that still your call

:57:35. > :57:40.is given to us to show courage when danger threatens, fortitude

:57:41. > :57:44.in the face of loss and pain, and perseverance

:57:45. > :57:57.in defence of right values. Then refashion us, we pray,

:57:58. > :58:03.into loyal servants of your cause, may indeed be established

:58:04. > :58:27.through all the world, The first reading is by the Lord

:58:28. > :58:29.Lieutenant of Glasgow, Sadie Docherty.

:58:30. > :58:32.The lesson is taken from St Matthew chapter 24, commencing at verse 3.

:58:33. > :58:34.And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives,

:58:35. > :58:37.the disciples came unto him privately, saying,

:58:38. > :58:40."Tell us, when shall these things be?

:58:41. > :58:42."and what shall be the sign of thy coming,

:58:43. > :58:47.And Jesus answered and said unto them,

:58:48. > :58:52."For many shall come in my name, saying,

:58:53. > :58:55."'I am Christ,' and shall deceive many.

:58:56. > :58:58."And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars,

:58:59. > :59:06."for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

:59:07. > :59:10."For nation shall rise against nation,

:59:11. > :59:15."and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes,

:59:16. > :59:22."All these are the beginning of sorrows."

:59:23. > :59:27.And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

:59:28. > :59:46.But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

:59:47. > :59:51.Just as today we all have mixed feelings and opinions

:59:52. > :59:59.when confronted with the events and legacy of the First World War,

:00:00. > :00:05.as nations teetered on the edge of conflict.

:00:06. > :00:08.Emotions ranged from excitement to foreboding,

:00:09. > :00:18.Many thought the war would be over in weeks or at worst months.

:00:19. > :00:21.For some, going to war was unnecessary,

:00:22. > :00:24.since more diplomacy was surely possible.

:00:25. > :00:34.on the grounds that any warfare was always wrong.

:00:35. > :00:36.By most, however, it was simply seen

:00:37. > :00:43.as a just and noble resistance to evil and oppression.

:00:44. > :00:52.upon the enormity of the conflict's human cost,

:00:53. > :00:56.but we will remember too, the astonishing courage and loyalty

:00:57. > :01:01.of so many who stepped forward to do their duty

:01:02. > :01:14.To pick up the story, a familiar figure from our screens, Sir Trevor

:01:15. > :01:16.McDonald. It was a patriotic spirit

:01:17. > :01:18.that was repeated But there was a cost, too,

:01:19. > :01:23.that had to be borne, by the Canadian poet

:01:24. > :01:28.Isabel Ecclestone Mackay. Oh, to be in Canada now that spring

:01:29. > :01:31.is merry, Happy apple blossoms gay against

:01:32. > :01:35.the smiling green, Here the lilac's purple plume

:01:36. > :01:39.and here the pink of cherry, Hillsides of bloom with clover

:01:40. > :01:43.in between! Oh, to be in Canada!

:01:44. > :01:46.There's a road that rambles Through a leafing maple-wood

:01:47. > :01:50.and up a windy hill, Velvet pussy-willows press

:01:51. > :01:54.soft hands amid the brambles Fringing round a sky-filled pool

:01:55. > :01:58.where cattle drink their fill. Oh, to be in Canada!

:01:59. > :02:01.There's a farmhouse hidden Where the hollow spring's

:02:02. > :02:06.first footsteps show. Not a drop of honey there

:02:07. > :02:09.to any bee forbidden, Not a cherry on a tree

:02:10. > :02:12.but all the robins know! Oh, to be in Canada,

:02:13. > :02:15.now that spring is calling Sweet, so sweet it breaks the heart

:02:16. > :02:20.to let its sweetness through, Oh, to breast the windy hill

:02:21. > :02:24.while yet the dew is falling, Waking all the meadow-larks

:02:25. > :02:27.to carol in the blue! Smile upon us, Canada!

:02:28. > :02:32.None shall fail who love you While they hold a memory

:02:33. > :02:36.of your fields where flowers are, High the task to keep unstained

:02:37. > :02:40.the skies that bend above you, Proud the life that shields you

:02:41. > :02:48.from the flaming wind of war! In Britain, as soon as the ultimatum

:02:49. > :02:51.was issued, men flocked to enlist

:02:52. > :02:54.in their thousands. Community after community

:02:55. > :02:58.responded to the call to serve. Within weeks, regulars and

:02:59. > :03:01.territorials from almost every part of England, Scotland, Ireland and

:03:02. > :03:06.Wales were on the Western Front. Of almost a thousand battalions

:03:07. > :03:09.raised, nearly 600 were so-called

:03:10. > :03:14.Pals battalions. Those from a local area

:03:15. > :03:16.who enlisted together, were grouped to serve

:03:17. > :03:19.in a particular battalion, rather than being spread randomly

:03:20. > :03:23.throughout the army. but later led to heart-rendingly

:03:24. > :03:29.disproportionate losses among individual communities

:03:30. > :03:33.and families. In Edinburgh,

:03:34. > :03:36.the whole of the first two teams of Heart of Midlothian

:03:37. > :03:39.Football Club, along with many members

:03:40. > :03:41.of the boardroom and staff enlisted in the 16th Battalion

:03:42. > :03:46.of the Royal Scots Lothian Regiment, and Glasgow provided battalions

:03:47. > :03:50.for the Highland Light Infantry from its tramways

:03:51. > :03:53.and the Boys Brigade. Wales also raised a dedicated

:03:54. > :04:00.Welsh division, the 38th. By the war's end,

:04:01. > :04:07.6,146,000 had seen service, with no less than 615

:04:08. > :04:23.Victoria Crosses being awarded. where 206,000 Irishmen

:04:24. > :04:29.joined the allies, going on to suffer the loss

:04:30. > :04:32.of 30,000 killed. The Victoria Cross

:04:33. > :04:36.was awarded to 37 recipients. As for those early days,

:04:37. > :04:40.few knew what to expect, but as hostilities continued,

:04:41. > :04:45.the reality became all too stark, as Captain Ronald Rose

:04:46. > :04:50.of the 1st Cameronians The enemy got their guns up

:04:51. > :04:58.unobserved We manage to get back a bit, capture

:04:59. > :05:10.several guns, and capture prisoners. On the way, we pass the place

:05:11. > :05:14.where the deed was done. They are shooting

:05:15. > :05:20.the wounded horses. The road is covered

:05:21. > :05:28.with blood trails. Tragically, but in what was to

:05:29. > :05:32.become an all too familiar pattern, he was to appear in the diary

:05:33. > :05:36.of one of his own men, when a few weeks later

:05:37. > :05:40.Arthur Honeyball wrote. and we placed the wounded

:05:41. > :05:49.behind a hay-stack. Captain Rose said that he would see

:05:50. > :05:53.where we could retire to next time, and as he looked round,

:05:54. > :05:59.he was shot in the back. I and another young chap

:06:00. > :06:01.that was near went over. I asked him where he had got it,

:06:02. > :06:04.he said in the back. As soon as he said that,

:06:05. > :06:10.he got another that killed him. and the other chap had got hold

:06:11. > :06:15.of his shoulders. And then I got mine

:06:16. > :06:18.through the thigh. because when I came to my senses,

:06:19. > :06:23.I was in a ditch Five days later, Rose's family

:06:24. > :06:34.received a telegram. "that Captain Rose was killed

:06:35. > :06:39.on 22nd October. "Lord Kitchener expresses

:06:40. > :06:44.his sympathy." And now the anthem, The Suffering

:06:45. > :07:24.God. , Set To New Music. # If He could speak,

:07:25. > :07:33.that victim torn and bleeding # Caught in His pain

:07:34. > :07:41.and nailed upon the Cross # Has He to give the comfort souls

:07:42. > :07:50.are needing? # Could He destroy

:07:51. > :07:58.the bitterness of loss? # Give me, for light,

:07:59. > :08:05.the sunshine of Thy sorrow # Give me, for shelter,

:08:06. > :08:14.shadow of Thy Cross # Give me to share the glory

:08:15. > :08:25.of Thy morrow # Gone from my heart

:08:26. > :08:55.the bitterness of loss. # # If He could speak,

:08:56. > :09:01.that victim torn and bleeding # Caught in His pain

:09:02. > :09:09.and nailed upon the Cross # Has He to give the comfort souls

:09:10. > :09:18.are needing? # Could He destroy

:09:19. > :09:25.the bitterness of loss? # Give me, for light,

:09:26. > :09:33.the sunshine of Thy sorrow # Give me, for shelter,

:09:34. > :09:42.shadow of Thy Cross # Give me to share the glory

:09:43. > :09:52.of Thy morrow # Gone from my heart

:09:53. > :10:31.the bitterness of loss. # During the years to come

:10:32. > :10:49.we shall rightly hear more of the courage and suffering

:10:50. > :10:51.of our forces in the conflict, but especially as this city

:10:52. > :10:54.has known the privilege of welcoming our Commonwealth

:10:55. > :10:56.brothers and sisters it is right that we pause now

:10:57. > :11:04.to remember their contribution. From all around the globe, they

:11:05. > :11:08.heard the call and they responded. The undivided India contributed

:11:09. > :11:12.immensely to the war effort. Over a million Indians

:11:13. > :11:15.served overseas and 54,000 laid down their lives

:11:16. > :11:20.in the line of duty. Indian soldiers served

:11:21. > :11:23.with credit and honour in numerous battlefields

:11:24. > :11:26.around the globe. 13,000 of them won medals,

:11:27. > :11:33.including 11 Victoria Crosses. Other important regional

:11:34. > :11:35.contributions came from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Malaysia, Singapore,

:11:36. > :11:40.Brunei and the Maldives. 15,000 soldiers from the

:11:41. > :11:44.West Indies Regiment saw action in France, Palestine, Egypt and Italy,

:11:45. > :11:50.2,500 were killed or wounded. 81 won medals for bravery,

:11:51. > :11:58.49 were mentioned in dispatches. 60,000 from the African continent

:11:59. > :12:01.fought for the Allied forces in the conflict,

:12:02. > :12:04.with hundreds of thousands carrying out vital roles

:12:05. > :12:10.of carriers or auxiliaries. Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe,

:12:11. > :12:15.South Africa, Sierra Leone, Uganda,

:12:16. > :12:17.Nyasaland, now Malawi, Over 7,000 lost their lives and 166

:12:18. > :12:28.received decorations for bravery. In the southern hemisphere, over 38%

:12:29. > :12:34.of Australian men under 44 enlisted. Of those 416,000,

:12:35. > :12:39.nearly 59,000 were killed, From a population

:12:40. > :12:49.of just over a million, more than 100,000 New Zealand men

:12:50. > :12:53.served overseas, amongst whom were around 460 Pacific

:12:54. > :13:00.Islanders and over 2,200 Maori. 18,500 New Zealanders were to lose

:13:01. > :13:07.their lives and 41,000 were wounded. Across the Atlantic, some 645,000

:13:08. > :13:18.Canadians and 6,200 Newfoundlanders were to enlist,

:13:19. > :13:21.of whom 66,000 lost their lives this from a combined population

:13:22. > :13:29.of under eight million. The Victoria Cross was awarded

:13:30. > :13:36.to 70 of their number. Closer to home, there was the Irish

:13:37. > :13:38.contribution we heard about. Nor should we forget how Cyprus

:13:39. > :13:42.and Malta were able to provide some of the essential services

:13:43. > :13:45.needed for the war, the shock of the European war scene

:13:46. > :13:54.must have been incalculable. Indeed, in those early months,

:13:55. > :13:58.letters home from wounded soldiers reveal a struggle to find words

:13:59. > :14:06.to portray what they had seen. wrote a Punjabi Rajput soldier

:14:07. > :14:13.in January 1915. This is just such a war

:14:14. > :14:20.as was related in the Mahabharata

:14:21. > :14:25.about our forefathers. A few months later,

:14:26. > :14:30.Sowar Sohan Singh of the 9th Hodson's Horse

:14:31. > :14:34.wrote in similar terms. The state of things here

:14:35. > :14:37.is indescribable. There is conflagration all round,

:14:38. > :14:40.and you must imagine it to be like a dry forest

:14:41. > :14:44.in a high wind in the hot weather, with abundance of dry grass

:14:45. > :14:47.and straw. No-one can extinguish it

:14:48. > :14:51.but God himself. Here thousands of lives

:14:52. > :14:59.have been sacrificed. Scratch the ground

:15:00. > :15:02.to a depth of one finger and nothing but corpses

:15:03. > :15:17.will be visible. Now, some of Glasgow's Commonwealth

:15:18. > :15:20.community join the choir for a game of prayer for peace, words by Henry

:15:21. > :15:28.Baker, music by George Arthur. # Make wars throughout

:15:29. > :15:42.the world to cease # Our greed and sinful wrath

:15:43. > :15:50.restrain # Whom shall we trust

:15:51. > :16:46.but you, O Lord? # Where rest

:16:47. > :16:54.but on your faithful word? # Where saints and angels

:16:55. > :17:27.dwell above # All hearts are knit

:17:28. > :17:35.in holy love Meanwhile, at home,

:17:36. > :18:18.we should remember that it wasn't just

:18:19. > :18:20.the military that saw a dramatic surge of volunteers

:18:21. > :18:24.and commitment to the war effort. There was a requirement

:18:25. > :18:27.from the population for service on every front,

:18:28. > :18:30.whether it be field or factory, mine or shipyard,

:18:31. > :18:38.hospital or office. As the men marched away to war,

:18:39. > :18:41.the women left at home quickly found themselves drawn

:18:42. > :18:49.into a conflict as never before. "Women of England say go," declared

:18:50. > :18:53.the recruiting posters to the men. But their departure required

:18:54. > :18:57.recruitment on the Home Front, to replace the thousands already

:18:58. > :19:01.gone from the family businesses, the railways, the omnibus

:19:02. > :19:05.and tram services, the post office, the steelworks,

:19:06. > :19:10.the shipyards. They learned new skills

:19:11. > :19:14.and took on responsibility. Aristocratic ladies

:19:15. > :19:17.set aside socialising and emerged

:19:18. > :19:21.as formidable organisers. Middle-class housewives seized

:19:22. > :19:25.the chance to channel pent-up energy into thousands of voluntary projects

:19:26. > :19:29.to support the troops and provide welfare

:19:30. > :19:32.for their families. There was an army of experienced

:19:33. > :19:36.charity workers waiting, battalions of women who saw

:19:37. > :19:40.their duty as service to others, coming into public life to show

:19:41. > :19:47.what they could do for the nation. And as the war hungrily

:19:48. > :19:51.consumed shells and bullets, there were hundreds of thousands

:19:52. > :19:55.of women ready to spend years in the

:19:56. > :19:59.dangerous business of munitions. thought previously to be utterly

:20:00. > :20:07.and completely beyond a woman. They were to gain more independence,

:20:08. > :20:12.more freedom. They were also to lose

:20:13. > :20:25.so very many they loved. a passage on service

:20:26. > :20:41.from St Mark's Gospel. The lesson is taken from St Mark

:20:42. > :20:45.chapter 10, commencing at verse 28. "Lo, we have left all,

:20:46. > :20:52.and have followed thee." And Jesus answered and said,

:20:53. > :20:56."Verily I say unto you, "There is no hath left house,

:20:57. > :21:03.or brethren, or sisters, or father, "or wife, or children, or lands,

:21:04. > :21:08.for my sake, and the gospel's, "But he shall receive an hundredfold

:21:09. > :21:12.now in this time, "and children, and lands,

:21:13. > :21:19.with persecutions; "and in the world to come

:21:20. > :21:24.eternal life." But Jesus called them to him,

:21:25. > :21:32.and saith unto them, "Ye know that they which are

:21:33. > :21:40.accounted to rule over the Gentiles "and their great ones

:21:41. > :21:44.exercise authority upon them. "but whosoever will be great among

:21:45. > :21:52.you shall be your minister, "And whosoever of you will be the

:21:53. > :21:58.chiefest shall be servant of all." For even the son of man

:21:59. > :22:02.came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give

:22:03. > :22:13.his life a ransom for many. The him now, Eternal Ruler Of The

:22:14. > :22:33.Ceaseless Round. # Eternal ruler

:22:34. > :22:42.of the ceaseless round # Of circling planets

:22:43. > :22:51.singing on their way # Guide of the nations

:22:52. > :23:01.from the night profound # Rule in our hearts

:23:02. > :23:19.that we may ever be # Guided and strengthened

:23:20. > :23:31.and upheld by Thee # We would be one in hatred

:23:32. > :23:38.of all wrong # One in our love of all things

:23:39. > :23:47.sweet and fair # One with the joy that breaketh

:23:48. > :23:56.into song # One with the grief that trembleth

:23:57. > :24:06.into prayer # One in the power

:24:07. > :24:16.that Thy children free # To follow truth

:24:17. > :24:26.and thus to follow Thee # O clothe us with

:24:27. > :24:36.Thy heavenly armor, Lord # Our inspiration be

:24:37. > :24:55.Thy constant word # We ask no victories

:24:56. > :25:04.that are not Thine # Give or withhold let pain

:25:05. > :25:14.or pleasure be # Enough to know

:25:15. > :25:41.that we are serving Thee. # Prayers now from senior figures in

:25:42. > :25:44.the Commonwealth. The soldier's prayer of commitment.

:25:45. > :25:49.Almighty God, whose command is over all, and whose love never fails,

:25:50. > :25:52.let me be aware of your presence, and obedient to Your will.

:25:53. > :25:56.Help me to accept my share of responsibility

:25:57. > :26:00.with a strong heart and cheerful mind.

:26:01. > :26:05.Make me to be considerate of those with whom I live and work,

:26:06. > :26:10.and faithful to the duties my country has entrusted to me.

:26:11. > :26:18.of the tradition of the defence force in which I serve.

:26:19. > :26:23.When I am inclined to doubt, strengthen my faith.

:26:24. > :26:29.When I am tempted to sin, help me to resist.

:26:30. > :26:32.When I fail, give me the courage to try again.

:26:33. > :26:35.Guide me with the light of your truth

:26:36. > :26:42.and example of Jesus in whose name I pray.

:26:43. > :26:53.Hear us, O Lord, as we pray for the Commonwealth of nations

:26:54. > :26:57.of which we have the privilege to be part.

:26:58. > :27:00.May the example of those who have gone before us

:27:01. > :27:07.bring us ever closer together in mutual respect and co-operation.

:27:08. > :27:11.As past generations heard and responded to the call to service,

:27:12. > :27:15.let us ever be ready to play our part

:27:16. > :27:37.in the unceasing quest for justice and freedom for all.

:27:38. > :27:41.And as today we reflect upon the past, we ask God

:27:42. > :27:47.to help us be receptive to the lessons it has to teach us,

:27:48. > :27:52.that we may build a better and safer world.

:27:53. > :27:55.We pray therefore that God will bless

:27:56. > :28:01.and guide all those in authority everywhere.

:28:02. > :28:05.And we ask that His Spirit will inspire each of us

:28:06. > :28:09.with a vision of that time which He has promised,

:28:10. > :28:20.and we shall all stand together in peace and everlasting joy.

:28:21. > :28:42.And anthem now by Peter Aston, the words from Pericles rural macro

:28:43. > :28:48.general or Asian, So They Gave Their Bodies To The Commonwealth.

:28:49. > :29:03.# So they gave their bodies to the Commonwealth

:29:04. > :29:10.# And received praise that will never die

:29:11. > :29:45.# Their story lives on without visible symbol

:29:46. > :30:03.# Woven into the stuff of other men's lives

:30:04. > :30:10.# So they gave their bodies to the Commonwealth

:30:11. > :30:35.# Woven into the stuff of other men's lives

:30:36. > :30:46.# So they gave their bodies to the Commonwealth

:30:47. > :30:58.# And received praise that will never die

:30:59. > :31:08.# That will never, never, never die.

:31:09. > :31:45.# And received praise that will never die

:31:46. > :31:52.The poet Edward Thomas joined the Artists Rifles in July 1915.

:31:53. > :31:57.aware of an officer's life expectancy at the front,

:31:58. > :32:03.wrote about their last night together.

:32:04. > :32:11.Soon, too soon, the brief leave ended.

:32:12. > :32:23.sometimes talking of our love and all that had been,

:32:24. > :32:30.and what had been amiss and what right.

:32:31. > :32:37.So, talking and crying and loving, we fell asleep

:32:38. > :32:40.as the cold, reflected light of the snow

:32:41. > :32:45.crept through the frost-covered windows.

:32:46. > :32:50.In the morning, hand in hand we went downstairs

:32:51. > :32:55.and out to the children, who were playing in the snow.

:32:56. > :32:59.A thick mist hung everywhere, and there was no sound

:33:00. > :33:09.except, far away in the valley, a train shunting.

:33:10. > :33:14.I stood at the gate watching him go,

:33:15. > :33:20.he turned back to wave until the mist and the hill hid him.

:33:21. > :33:23.I heard his old call coming up to me.

:33:24. > :33:36.Again through the muffled air came his "Coo-ee!"

:33:37. > :33:41.And again went my answer like an echo.

:33:42. > :33:49.It came fainter next time, but my "Coo-ee!"

:33:50. > :33:51.went out of my lungs strong to pierce to him

:33:52. > :33:59.So faint now that it might be only my own call

:34:00. > :34:04.flung back from the thick air and muffling snow.

:34:05. > :34:07.I put my hands up to my mouth to make a trumpet,

:34:08. > :34:14.Panic seized me, and I ran through the mist

:34:15. > :34:27.There was nothing but the mist and the snow

:34:28. > :34:42.Then, with leaden feet which stumbled in a sudden darkness

:34:43. > :34:55.that overwhelmed me, I groped my way back to the empty house.

:34:56. > :35:00.Five weeks later, the poet's observation post took a direct hit.

:35:01. > :35:23.Our service today carries no single, simple message,

:35:24. > :35:28.no defining summary of what today means,

:35:29. > :35:40.of extraordinary courage and commitment

:35:41. > :35:50.that touched countless families, like the one of Edward Thomas.

:35:51. > :35:54.But we have a responsibility to do more

:35:55. > :36:01.than just shake our heads in bewilderment and leave it at that.

:36:02. > :36:08.We have to remember, reflect and indeed learn.

:36:09. > :36:17.Then pass on to those coming after us what we have learned.

:36:18. > :36:21.At the end of our service, we shall see something of that,

:36:22. > :36:27.when the light of hope will be passed on to the next generation.

:36:28. > :36:36.But first we let that new generation have today's final word,

:36:37. > :36:49.after which we will take a few moments of quiet to reflect.

:36:50. > :36:53.The experience began when we marched onto the bus.

:36:54. > :36:55.From then on, we were following the footsteps

:36:56. > :37:04.No technology, no contact with families or the outside world.

:37:05. > :37:24.No man was the same but they all died

:37:25. > :37:40.A phrase seen heard and read too many times.

:37:41. > :37:57.who lie in the vast cemeteries of the First World War.

:37:58. > :38:09.but 81% of the thousands of soldiers who lie there are "Known unto God."

:38:10. > :38:18.81% will never be visited by their loved ones

:38:19. > :38:26.where they lie or what happened to them.

:38:27. > :38:29.We were each placed before a headstone,

:38:30. > :38:37.We were told to imagine what this soldier had been like

:38:38. > :38:41.and give him a name, an appearance and a personality.

:38:42. > :38:50.Once we had done that, we were told to take a few minutes to remember.

:38:51. > :38:53.And there is one thing that is associated with remembrance,

:38:54. > :39:01.As I laid my poppy on the headstone of my soldier

:39:02. > :39:05.and gazed out over the never-ending ripples of white stones,

:39:06. > :39:17.From then on, my outlook on life has never been the same.

:39:18. > :39:21.My soldier lay in Poelkapelle Cemetery.

:39:22. > :39:26.He still does and will always lie in Poelkapelle.

:39:27. > :39:32.But if I remember, and my poppy stays with him and is loyal,

:39:33. > :39:36.then I have done well and done my duties

:39:37. > :39:44.to those who loved him but have never been able to visit.

:39:45. > :39:48.I did it for them and didn't only pay my respects - but theirs too.

:39:49. > :40:13.You never forget something that has meant so much to you

:40:14. > :40:15.and after experiencing something as powerful,

:40:16. > :40:21.It will always be with me, and nothing will be forgotten.

:40:22. > :41:24.reflect the fields both of home here and Commonwealth,

:41:25. > :41:32.left behind as the volunteers left for the fields of war.

:41:33. > :41:38.The poppies represent the fields they found at the front.

:41:39. > :41:45.After our hymn and the blessing, we leave in silence,

:41:46. > :42:03.and placing wherever, on reflection, we feel appropriate.

:42:04. > :42:23.And now the final hymn, Son Of God, Eternal Xavier. --

:42:24. > :42:37.# Source of life and truth and grace

:42:38. > :43:01.# Great High Priest who throned in glory

:43:02. > :43:32.# Heal our wrongs and help our need

:43:33. > :43:50.# Freely have your gifts been granted

:43:51. > :44:07.# Yours the gold and yours the silver

:44:08. > :44:59.# Hush the storms of strife and passion

:45:00. > :45:16.# Yours the prayer and yours the purpose

:45:17. > :45:33.# Grant from heaven our hope's fruition

:45:34. > :45:52.And now, God grant to the living grace,

:45:53. > :45:59.the Commonwealth, and the whole human family,

:46:00. > :46:05.and may the blessing of God Almighty,

:46:06. > :46:07.the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

:46:08. > :46:12.be upon you and remain with you always.

:46:13. > :47:08.The service now ends with what's called the service and hope. All the

:47:09. > :47:19.senior officers from India, the West Indies, Africa, Australia, New

:47:20. > :47:24.Zealand, Canada, Europe and Ireland, all handing the candles on to

:47:25. > :47:30.children from the local boys brigade, the girls brigade, and the

:47:31. > :47:37.Sunday School, all attached to the cathedral here in Glasgow. So that

:47:38. > :47:42.the act of remembrance that we have seen today can be taken on by the

:47:43. > :47:58.next generation. There was, you may have noticed, no

:47:59. > :48:05.sermon today in the service. A deliberate decision because as the

:48:06. > :48:11.minister, Laurence Whitley said, there was no defining summary of

:48:12. > :48:18.what today means. He said, for there is none. Instead, this was a service

:48:19. > :48:25.to bow in acknowledgement of the extraordinary courage and commitment

:48:26. > :48:32.made by so many across the Commonwealth. Many of whom

:48:33. > :49:18.represented here today. As the Lord Lieutenant, Sadie

:49:19. > :49:33.Docherty, guides The Prince of Wales or the Duke of Rothesay out, the

:49:34. > :49:36.attention will now move to St George's Square nearby with The

:49:37. > :49:46.Prince of Wales and the Prime Minister will take part in another

:49:47. > :49:58.ceremony watching a march-past and laying a wreath at the Cenotaph. You

:49:59. > :50:04.will notice too that everybody is clutching a single poppy. As the

:50:05. > :50:10.minister said, another choice for everyone here to take that poppy to

:50:11. > :50:14.a place where they choose in their own act of remembrance. Perhaps for

:50:15. > :51:07.a member of their own family. The Prince of Wales acknowledging

:51:08. > :51:21.there, his presence here today, for posterity.

:51:22. > :51:34.Representing here today the Royal Family, as he does, increasingly now

:51:35. > :51:39.at so many Commonwealth events. As time passes he picks up the

:51:40. > :51:54.increased duties. As I say, he now leaves to lay a

:51:55. > :51:59.wreath at the Cenotaph nearby. Where he will be joined by the Prime

:52:00. > :52:09.Minister and other senior military figures to watch members of all

:52:10. > :52:14.three Services march by in just one of countless acts of remembrance and

:52:15. > :52:25.commemoration taking place across the United Kingdom today. And

:52:26. > :52:40.indeed, across the world. Members of the Cabinet now leaving.

:52:41. > :52:50.The Prime Minister is off to the Cenotaph and then heading to other

:52:51. > :54:28.acts of remembrance both here and in Belgium.

:54:29. > :54:33.Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, among close leaving the

:54:34. > :54:38.cathedral there. A very moving service. A service that talked about

:54:39. > :54:40.reconciliation and a service that talked about sacrifice and memorable

:54:41. > :54:45.contributions from the young people there. Of course, one of the most

:54:46. > :54:49.powerful themes at end of the service was the sense of handing

:54:50. > :54:51.over the duty of remembrance to a younger generation. Back here at

:54:52. > :54:55.Westminster Abbey, where tonight's service is taking place, that will

:54:56. > :54:59.be the candle-lit service starting late tonight leading up to 11pm,

:55:00. > :55:03.Margaret and David and Juliet is still with me. Just some thoughts on

:55:04. > :55:08.what we have seen heard there because that sense of the handover,

:55:09. > :55:13.that sense of asking a younger generation to take responsibility

:55:14. > :55:19.for remembrance was very powerful, wasn't it? It was very touching when

:55:20. > :55:22.they had the senior military men with the small children walking out

:55:23. > :55:28.together. And I liked that sense of bringing many people together which

:55:29. > :55:34.was really the focus of what was going on. They said we must respect

:55:35. > :55:37.what those people and we're not going into whether or not the war

:55:38. > :55:40.was a just war or not. It was right that they looked at what it meant

:55:41. > :55:44.for those young people and their dedication and sacrifice. The whole

:55:45. > :55:48.tone was lovely. And making it quite clear at the start, David, there was

:55:49. > :55:51.no one message. They weren't actually there to give us a line, if

:55:52. > :55:55.you like, that we should all take away. We should take away what we

:55:56. > :55:58.all wanted from that service and they were allowing people to make

:55:59. > :56:02.their own contribution? And quite rightly. This is one of those

:56:03. > :56:06.moments where historians need to back away and stop doing what we do

:56:07. > :56:10.with analysis and trying to apportion blame and responsibility

:56:11. > :56:15.and just allow the country to emoat. The First World War is an odd event,

:56:16. > :56:19.it is a global event, but it touched every family in Britain. Millions of

:56:20. > :56:23.families around the world and now is a moment to put the history aside

:56:24. > :56:28.for one moment and just think about what it means. Juliet, hang on a

:56:29. > :56:34.second, I will be with you. As we saw in the service, someone who

:56:35. > :56:39.played a prominent part was Sir Trevor McDonald, the broadcaster

:56:40. > :56:43.there was who, and he is with Anita. Let's join them now.

:56:44. > :56:51.I am joined by Sir Trevor McDonald. An incredibly poignant and moving

:56:52. > :56:55.ceremony this morning, Sir Trevor? It was exceptionally well done and

:56:56. > :57:00.well organised and it felt the right way to go about it. Absolutely. You

:57:01. > :57:04.can see the VIPs and dignitaries from all over the Commonwealth

:57:05. > :57:09.representatives from all over still filtering out of the church and why

:57:10. > :57:14.is it important to recognise that it was a World War and it was fought

:57:15. > :57:19.globally and by men from all over the world? Well, those figures were

:57:20. > :57:25.simply staggering. I knew that people had come from all over the

:57:26. > :57:28.world to take part in the First World War, but I didn't realise

:57:29. > :57:34.there was so many people from so many places. More than one million

:57:35. > :57:38.from India. I'd forgotten that. It was Abraham Lincoln who said after

:57:39. > :57:41.the war, that we can't do very much to honour these people anymore than

:57:42. > :57:46.they have honoured themselves by what they did, but we can remember

:57:47. > :57:52.and I think today, we did it in a very fitting way. I think so and it

:57:53. > :57:57.is about people remembering in their own way. People are filtering on to

:57:58. > :58:01.the noisy coach behind us and all over the Commonwealth and you

:58:02. > :58:11.mentioned the million soldiers from the sub couldn't -- subcontinent and

:58:12. > :58:16.even the West Indies? We used to joke about little islands saying,

:58:17. > :58:20."Go ahead, Britain, all these islands are behind you." People from

:58:21. > :58:25.the West Indies came and in the Second World War, the men who were

:58:26. > :58:34.asked to come and they were looked after, but many west Indian women

:58:35. > :58:38.came to Britain on their own to contribute to the war effort. It is

:58:39. > :58:43.exceptional and this service really reflected that very well. Sir

:58:44. > :58:51.Trevor, that thank you. Thank you so much. Sir Trevor McDonald. Julia,

:58:52. > :58:55.your reflection on the service. One young woman who did bring home the

:58:56. > :59:00.full ex-continue of loss and grief -- extent of loss and grief? The

:59:01. > :59:06.service was beautiful with the way it balanced the enormous gash that

:59:07. > :59:11.just ripped apart the whole world. As David said at the very beginning,

:59:12. > :59:18.this was a World War and it was so obvious in that service and yet

:59:19. > :59:23.contrasted with the specific read which was so beautifully done of one

:59:24. > :59:28.woman saying goodbye to her husband. Those themes, I have to say, were

:59:29. > :59:37.reflected by Prince William who is in Belgium today because he will be

:59:38. > :59:44.taking part in a service later on at the military cemetery. Prince

:59:45. > :59:56.William spoke about his thoughts on reflections on the First World War.

:59:57. > :00:03.In the summer of 1914, the Austrian writer was on holiday in Belgium. He

:00:04. > :00:07.describes how people from all over Europe were enjoying themselves

:00:08. > :00:12.together there. And comments that a great deal of German was spoken

:00:13. > :00:20.because holiday-makers liked to come to the Belgium beaches. Just days

:00:21. > :00:25.later, this care free harmony was shattered by the outbreak of the

:00:26. > :00:29.First World War. During four terrible years, the same Europeans

:00:30. > :00:34.were engulfed by killing and destruction. Among the very first

:00:35. > :00:42.victims were the people of Belgium whose resistance was as gallant as

:00:43. > :00:49.their suffering was great. The Duke of Cambridge speak ago short while

:00:50. > :00:52.ago. He will be staying in Belgium. A unique resting place, British,

:00:53. > :00:57.Commonwealth, and German soldiers at rest there. Sophie Raworth will be

:00:58. > :00:59.there tonight and she has been looking at the history of the

:01:00. > :01:09.cemetery. Almost a century after the Battle of

:01:10. > :01:13.Mons the cemetery in Belgium is a unique reminder of the first

:01:14. > :01:19.conflict involving British soldiers in World War I. Built in 1917 while

:01:20. > :01:24.war was still raging in Europe, it is the result of the Germans, the

:01:25. > :01:35.Belgians and the British working together in a spirit of common hue

:01:36. > :01:41.handity. -- humanity. This stands at the heart of the cemetery and reads

:01:42. > :01:45.in memory of the soldiers who died and from the beginning there was an

:01:46. > :01:53.understanding that the graves of both nations would be treated with

:01:54. > :01:58.equal respect. In 1916, the German Army approached a local landowner,

:01:59. > :02:03.German and British casualties had been buried in make-shift graveyards

:02:04. > :02:07.and the Germans wanted to give them their own official military

:02:08. > :02:14.cemetery. The farmer agreed to offer the land for free. The Germans were

:02:15. > :02:17.careful to combine British and German influences. The trees echo

:02:18. > :02:22.their own tradition of woodland cemeteries. The flowers follow the

:02:23. > :02:31.English custom of gardens of remembrance. 2 84 German and 229

:02:32. > :02:39.British and Commonwealth soldiers are commemorated here including

:02:40. > :02:44.Captain Kennet James Roy of the Middlesex Regiment. Captain Roy was

:02:45. > :02:49.37 when he died a few miles away from here in hand to hand combat.

:02:50. > :02:58.Like so many who died in the Great War, we know very little about the

:02:59. > :03:02.kind of man he was. And now, Captain Kenneth Roy killed a the start of

:03:03. > :03:10.the Great War lies in this cemetery side by side with the German who

:03:11. > :03:21.died in October 1918 just two weeks before it ended. This place of

:03:22. > :03:27.memory and remembrance made possible by Belgium generosity and he created

:03:28. > :03:31.by the Germanses and cared for by the War Graves Commission shows in

:03:32. > :03:35.life these men were enniece, but in death -- enemies, but in death they

:03:36. > :03:41.are united. Well, there is a sense of the special commemoration coming

:03:42. > :03:47.later today and we start our coverage at 6.30pm on BBC Two.

:03:48. > :03:51.Later, we will be here at Westminster Abbey for the special

:03:52. > :03:54.candle-lit service. Thank you for watching this morning. Apologies for

:03:55. > :03:58.one or two glitches on the sound and vision from Glasgow. Thanks to

:03:59. > :04:03.Margaret and David and Juliet. Thank you for your company. Hopefully see

:04:04. > :04:33.you later on at 6.30pm on BBC Two. Bye for now.

:04:34. > :04:36.Espionage. Who would possibly assassinate him?