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from
The Guardian Monday 13 November 2000
 Poppy
day marches into a new century
Cenotaph remembrance service
opens ranks to civilians and other faiths in wider tribute to the many
Tania Branigan
Their medals flashing in the rare bursts of sunlight, thousands of veterans
marched solemnly past the Cenotaph to the strains of Rule Britannia, as they
had done for decades.
But yesterday's service of
Remembrance in London was a new ceremony for a new millennium, combining the
best of its traditions with a fresh spirit of inclusivity.
As a poll suggested that a quarter of
children have no idea what Remembrance Day is about, the organisers, the
Royal British Legion, strove to guarantee its future by increasing its
relevance to the community as a whole.
The wording of the brief service was
amended to include overseas servicemen and women, representatives from more
faiths took part and for the first time a contingent of civilians -
"2,000 for 2000" - followed the 6,000 veterans in their
procession.
Relatives of men shot for cowardice
or desertion marched alongside evacuees, the Women's Land Army and the
Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society. Even representatives of the
long-disbanded Army Pigeon Service, which used the birds for vital wartime
messages, were present.
For the most part, the ceremony ran
according to its time-honoured rituals. As Big Ben struck eleven, the crowds
hushed to observe the two minute silence, before Royal Marines' buglers
sounded the Last Post.
The Queen and other royals led the
laying of poppy wreaths, including one on behalf of the Queen Mother, who is
still recovering after breaking her collar bone.
Tony Blair, William Hague, Charles
Kennedy and David Trimble also laid tributes, watched by dignitaries
including the former prime ministers Lady Thatcher and Sir Edward Heath and
the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. Representatives of the Sikh, Buddhist,
Hindu, Muslim and Greek Orthodox faiths joined Jewish and Christian leaders
for the first time.
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Harry Farr's daughter carries his photograph on the Remembrance Day
parade
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But no participant was prouder than
Gertrude Harris, 87, from the campaign Shot At Dawn. The group is determined
to vindicate the 305 men executed during the first world war - far more than
the German tally of 18, but far less than the French - whom it describes as
brave soldiers who cracked under the strain.
Mrs Harris was three when her father,
Private Harry Farr, was shot for cowardice near the Somme in 1916. The
26-year-old regular had spent five months in hospital suffering from shell
shock and could not cope when sent back to the frontline. His court martial
lasted 20 minutes and he defended himself. Despite his previous good conduct
he was sentenced to execution.
Mrs Harris was 40 before she found
out how her father had died. An aunt let the secret slip; the rest of his
family refused to talk about him and her mother was so ashamed of the stigma
that she only spoke about it in the last years before her death at 99. The
execution brought financial hardship as well as disgrace, as the government
stopped pensions to both widow and child. "It was dreadful, dreadful.
We were thrown onto the streets because we couldn't afford the rent,"
said Mrs Harris, from Harrow, north-west London.
"Today is for my mother. When
she saw the veterans on Armistice Day she used to say: 'Harry should have
been among them. He was a brave man. He was no coward.'
"I'm proud of my father. It's
been a wonderful day and it's an honour to represent not just him but all
the other men."
She added: "I used to say my
father was killed by Germans. But he was shot by his own people - which was
murder.
"They're beginning to accept
that these men weren't cowards and I hope I'm still alive when they
exonerate them."
But the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon,
yesterday said pardons would "not be appropriate in this retrospective
way".
"The question of a pardon is a
very technical issue and a legal issue ... there are ways in which those who
died in these particularly unfortunate circumstances can be
remembered," he said on GMTV's Sunday programme.
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