February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
There was a time when those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country were listed on page one of the newspaper. This was when “quality” publications didn’t lead with the biggest stories of the day. Instead, small display and classified ads were printed alongside official notices. During World War I, for instance, The Times of London listed daily the names of soldiers killed in the trenches.
On the home front, life went on. Businesses advertised various services and sales; people bought and sold houses, and they looked for nannies, cooks and maids, and for shorthaired terriers gone missing. Their paid ads appeared beside the fresh lists of the dead.
The madness that gripped Western civilization, that all-out war between the imperial powers, cost the lives of nine million men – among them tens of thousands of Irishmen, mainly in the ranks of the British army, but also fighting with the Australian, U.S. and other contingents.
There were many unfortunate consequences flowing from that blood-soaked conflict. One was the rise of numerous dictatorships, characterized by varying degrees of totalitarianism, which in turn eventually led to a second World War. But we can also date to the 1914-18 war, a certain democratic spirit. Citizens became more skeptical of the “official version;” they were rather less likely to blindly follow orders issued by their “betters.”
So today in a democratic country, we can have a healthy debate about war, unlike during those dark days in Europe 90 years ago. There are those who believe the conflict in Iraq is morally justifiable, and others who believe just as strongly that it is not. Whatever our views, we should all take a moment on this coming Friday, Nov. 11, to remember those more than 2,000 American servicemen and servicewomen – most of whose names have not ever appeared on the front page of a major newspaper – who in the past 32 months have given their lives for their country.