Merville

I stayed in Merville with some colleagues for a few days - it's a town that has seen plenty of different armies march through it, and devastate it. It includes graves from WW1 and WW2 withing the town cemetery, and memorials from Viking invasions to post WW2 conflicts the town's men have been involved in.

The WW1 memorial was used for target practise by the next generation of German invaders ...

All of which brings to mind a couple of questions ...

• Is there (should there be) a cut off after which we 'forget' the dead from wars? In Merville do we remember the dead from the vikings? Does it make us uncomfortable to include conflicts in which we are the aggressor?
• At what point is someone else's memorial a kick in the teeth for us? A thing that reminds us of battles lost? How would we feel if the Taliban erected a monument to their brave boys who fought the hated British occupiers of Helmand? Would we cheer if a later generation of brave Brits used it for target practise, even as the widows and mothers of those named on it watched?