They Shall Not Grow Old

Even in times of relative peace, even on the most ordinary days, there are those who did not, do not and will not come home.

They are no less brave, no less heroic, no less worthy of our remembrance. Their loss is no less tragic, no less poignant, no less painful.

The cries of anguish, the bitter sorrow, the infinite regrets of a lost future, the vacuum of loss and loneliness – they are just as real, just as far-reaching, just as indelibly stamped on our collective being.

The widows, the orphans, the childless parents, the friends and the colleagues all still struggle to find their new place in a suddenly dark and barren world.

And the old lie ‘Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori’ is still repeated.

RIP Flying Officer Ian (Mongo) Halden, 19(F)Sqn RAF. Killed 30 October 1991. Aged 25. Remembered with love.

Carpe diem. In pace.