At Holy Trinity Dunfermline we remember many of our privileges are owed by so many to so few.
We have always hosted a large amount of veterans, service people and their families in our community. Many others work for one of the many industries or departments supporting their efforts. Dunfermline’s key role in the defence infrastructure of the UK has shaped the congregation and city itself. Whilst many of the facilities have changed or gone over the last few decades the Dockyard is still the biggest single employer in the region and continues to build warships and maintain ships and submarines to support the Royal Navy and our NATO allies.
We have our own war memorial dedicated to those congregation members killed in the First World War. Like many towns and villages in Scotland the lack of a WWII memorial was due to the huge sacrifice in WWI meaning there were very few to send to the front line. Alongside the names carved into the memorial in the porch, visible at all times on Dunfermline’s East Port, is an inscription:
In grateful and lasting respect this memorial is erected by the congregation to the honour of their fellow members who on active service in the war 1914-1918, gave their lives as a sacrifice for others.
“Their name liveth for evermore”
The last line is a biblical text from the book of Ecclesiasticus. It was Rudyard Kipling who recommended the inscription ‘Their name liveth for evermore’ for each head Stone or war memorial. The full quote from chapter 44 verse 14 is “Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore.”
However since then many veterans have found a home at Holy Trinity Dunfermline. Particularly we remember those who served in the Falklands campaign who endured so much to protect part of our nation many miles away from home. We pray for their endurance, their lost comrades and those communities.
We pray especially in these uncertain times where we see a major conflict in Europe, horrible and unchecked war now across the Middle East aswell as wars and battles across the rest of the world and in particular Africa. Not just for the suffering of those military personnel involved but the untold suffering of the civilians caught up or targeted in those campaigns.
At Holy Trinity Dunfermline we will always pray for peace, whilst supporting our military communities and veterans. We will remember them.
