Jim Shannon
Main Page: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)Department Debates - View all Jim Shannon's debates with the Ministry of Defence
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Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart. More importantly, I thank the hon. Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) for her passionate and completely accurate portrayal of the role of memorials in community life today. Obviously, my constituency of Strangford—well, maybe it is not obvious; Members may not do not know this, but I hope they do—
Jim Shannon
Well, they will know about it before I have finished anyway. Newtownards in my constituency of Strangford has always had a history and tradition of serving in uniform, whether it be in the Army, the Royal Navy or the Royal Air Force. I declare an interest: I served in the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Artillery for 14 and a half years as a part-time soldier.
After the great war, a memorial was erected in Newtownards, acknowledging the sacrifice of so many. A cenotaph made out of plywood was erected by members of the British Legion in Conway Square in 1925 for the Somme commemoration ceremony. The first wreaths were laid at 7.30 am. The reason why the time was important is that that was the time at which the Ulster Division made its attack on 1 July 1916.
After the Somme service, in 1927 members of the Newtownards British Legion conceived the idea of erecting something of a more permanent character. The volunteers made a concrete cenotaph modelled on the same lines as the temporary structure. It was constructed in the grounds of the legion headquarters on land that had been secured from the County Down railway. It is a step down memory lane to think of the County Down railway—that has been away from before I was born, I think.
On the face of the upright standard are the words, “Our Glorious Dead”. The first base is inscribed with, “In Memory of Our Fallen Comrades”, and on the next are the words, “The Great War”. The hon. Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy referred to all those things when she set the scene incredibly well. There is a third step, and then an outer verge. Despite the erection of the permanent memorial in 1934, commemoration events were still being held at the plywood cenotaph as late as 1941.
I first attended the Remembrance Sunday parade when I was in the Army—a long, long time ago—and I have attended since I became a councillor on Ards borough council in 1985. It is always a very poignant occasion to go along and pay respects to those who, as the hon. Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy said, gave us the liberty, the freedom and the democracy that we now have. As custodians of those things, we hope to carry them on to the next generation.
At our annual Remembrance service, the names of the fallen are often read out. There are so many names on that list that are still so popular in our town, which is so poignant and impactful. I believe that consideration of the level of sacrifice that was made for the freedom and security of our nation and this world is an essential component of community life.
Schoolchildren are brought to see the Cenotaph, but of course additional memorials have been erected since. There is a memorial to the members of the Polish air force who served, including at the airfield at Ballyhalbert, in the second world war. Of course, some of them came to Northern Ireland, met some of our young ladies, fell in love with them, married them and did not go home again. Some of those Polish guys stayed in Northern Ireland over all those years, which is important to recognise.
There is a memorial dedicated to the members of the 70th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers who were killed in the second world war, and in remembrance of all the civilians and service personnel who lost their lives in the first and second world wars.
There is also a small monument for the UDR Four. I knew three of those four Ulster Defence Regiment men, who were murdered by the IRA. The memorial for them down at Ballydugan in Downpatrick was damaged, but we were able to get Ards to take it on and we have it in Newtownards.
The blood of all our forefathers, in our Army, Navy, Air Force, Royal Ulster Constabulary and prison service, is worthy of honour and we must continue to honour it well in this nation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We always do it better than anybody else.