STONE AND DISTRICT U3A
‘SHOT AT DAWN’
F
ollowing a moving visit to
the National Memorial
Arboretum, in Alrewas,
Staffordshire
recently
members of Stone and District
U3A Philosophy Group reflect
on their experience.
There seems something
iniquitous about it when you
stop for a moment to reflect.
War memorials, in their most
prolific form, static lumps of
stone on which well chiselled
soldiers stand guarding the
names of their comrades taken
in one of the two great wars. The
wars said to end all wars!
Yet when you visit the
National Memorial Arboretum
in Alrewas the wars you read
about are recent, the names
inscribed in stone still fresh.
Fifty one wars or skirmishes
recorded since 1945. The names
of well over 16,000 people
chronicled as ‘killed in action’ on
the Armed Forces Memorial and
still plenty of space reserved for
more!
It brings you face to face with
reality. Makes you think.
Men and women no longer
alive; brothers, sisters, mothers,