Ambassador's Weekly Column
War memorials (No.21)
In the course of my different postings, I made it a point to visit battle fields, war cemeteries, war memorials and concentration camps to pray for those who perished. I have thus visited, for example, Verdun, Maginot line, Omaha and Utah beaches, Struthof and Dachau concentration camps in Europe, Israel-Lebanese border a few days after the hostilities ended in 2006 and Golan Hights, Yad Vashem in the Middle East, Bukit Timah in Singapore, Lugouqiao (Marco Polo Bridge) in China etc. These are the places where history was made, and you are reminded that you are also a product of history. Also as a diplomat, it is good to be reminded from time to time what sort of catastrophic event would happen if diplomacy fails.
A couple of weekends before, I went to Bastogne and visited the Historical Center. In anticipation of that visit, I had finished reading a book entitled “Band of Brothers” and at the same time watched the TV series of the book. This made me understand better the significance of the battle which took place there and the enormity of the human sacrifice.
It was heartening to see that, in spite of the cold and drizzle, there was a constant flow of visitors including families with children. Mardasson Memorial was also impressive.
On the 10th, I was in Ypres to attend a lecture commemorating the end of the First World War. When the lecture ended, it was already late evening, so I had only a glimpse of the Menenpoort, but I will surely come back again to spend more time in the city as well as in the surrounding area.
These visits also made me wonder whether in the future, similar monuments will be erected in memory of the fallen in today’s armed conflicts which are characterized by their low intensity, asymmetry (government troops against guerillas, for example), and sometimes vagueness as to when the conflict has ended, but are as costly as the conventional wars in terms of human sacrifice.
19th November 2009
Jun YOKOTA
Ambassador of Japan to the Kingdom of Belgium
