CeeBee

Sorry folks! I could have expressed this better. It reads like I'm down-playing the importance of memorials and the respect due at them, which was not my intention. What I clumsily tried to say was that due to public pressure, the government of the day reluctantly agreed to hold a national service of remembrance. It was only intended to be a one-off event. An unexpected bonus for the politicians after their grudging gesture was a renewed war effort. It was therefore seen as expedient to make it an annual national event. Better publicity than a series of small local services. In times of governmental need, similar gestures are wheeled out time and time again, with similar effects on Joe Public. Nothing much changes.

Over time the functions of these memorials change, from a place for the newly-bereaved to grieve in the absence of a grave side, to our present-day situation of remembering sacrifices made by previous generations. If you follow my drift, it's dangerous to forget to remember...

I don't know where I stand on this one...any wreck could be someone's last resting place and should be afforded the due respect and reverence. Never having seen one for real, I imagine they are peaceful and fitting memorials to those that died in the maritime tradition. So if diving keeps those who lost their lives at sea in the public memory....

Here endeth the lesson

xChrissy