Remembering lives lost in the world wars |09 November 2020

President Ramkalawan and First Lady Linda Ramkalawan leading the wreath laying ceremony at the cenotaph (Photo: Joena Meme)

“A commemoration of lives lost on both sides of the two world wars and not a celebration of victories.”

This is how British High Commissioner Patrick Lynch described yesterday’s Remembrance Day ceremony at the cenotaph at the Mont Fleuri cemetery.

Leading the gathering in laying the poppy wreaths and saluting the sacrifices of the fallen were President Wavel Ramkalawan and the First Lady followed by High Commissioner Lynch, Vice-President Ahmed Afif and the Second Lady, Indian High Commissioner General Dalbir Singh Duhag, French ambassador Dominique Mas, Speaker Roger Mancienne among other dignitaries, members of the diplomatic corps and army officers.

As customary, some of the few remaining and capable Seychellois ex-service men and war veterans also graced the ceremony, as well as family members of those who served in the British forces.

Prayers for the ceremony were led by Deacon Louis Agathine from the Roman Catholic faith and Reverend Willy William of the Anglican Diocese.

Solemn parts of the ceremony included the reading of the Kohima epitath – ‘When you go home tell them of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today’ – and the hymns accompanied by the national brass band.

British High Commissioner Lynch provided a sobering speech on the importance of remembering and learning from the past, and remaining mindful not to be blinded by the bygone days.

Mr Lynch reminded the attendees that Remembrance Day was not an occasion “to speak of neither triumphalism nor recrimination” or celebrate victories, but to remember all the lives that were lost in the world wars.

“The sacrifice of these soldiers is only truly futile if the generations that come after choose not to build on the foundations they have laid for us. If we choose not to embrace the systems where leaders are elected by the will of the people and are there to serve the needs of the people,” stated Mr Lynch.

The act of remembrance, he continued, serves to teach us to reject authoritarianism and to build nations that are tolerant, transparent and democratic.

Referring to the country’s recent general elections, where one side bowed out graciously and the other magnanimous in its victory, Mr Lynch added that it “is act like these that build on the foundations laid by the generation before us”.

On his part, ex-service man Roy Fonseka acknowledged the recent passing away of war veterans and ex-service men Norman Eliza and Samuel Jolicoeur, as well as Charles Zialor who passed on Saturday evening.

Justin Meme, who served in the British forces in the 1960s, noted that the few remaining Seychellois ex-service men are “a band of diminishing brothers”.

“Only last night, we lost one of our old Tobruk men at the Seychelles Hospital. But this is life; we are struggling to remain alive and keep the tradition going,” Mr Meme said.

Named after the siege of Tobruk in Libya, in 1941, the famed Tobruk Club yesterday did not welcome guests from the ceremony, as per tradition, on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Remembrance Day, observed every Sunday nearest to Armistice Day, on November 11, pays homage to the fallen soldiers and personnel during the First World War and Second World War.

As part of the British Colony at these times, many young Seychellois took up arms and 365 lost their lives in the process, of whom 289 were identified.

Most were members of the carrier corps that served in the East Africa Campaign in the First World War. Their names remain engraved on the cenotaph in alphabetical order, from P.L Adela who served in the Great War to P. Decaila who fell in the subsequent Second World War.

Elsie Pointe