Remembrance Assembly By Lt Col Miles Blackford
I
t is a frightening thing to be shot at. To look your enemy in the eye knowing that they are intent on killing you and your mates.
No one knows how they will react the first time you deploy into enemy territory on patrol, waiting to be ambushed or how you will react to the uncertainty of where the next bomb will land when you are in the middle of a mortar attack. My friend Sean certainly knew nothing about the direct mortar round hit he suffered at the hands of the Taliban in 2007. During that nine-month deployment in Afghanistan, my boss was an Old Amplefordian – Maj Gen Jacko Page (B77). General Jacko had a son at Ampleforth at that time and he used to mention his son’s school’s values at team meetings when we were in Kandahar, probably the most dangerous city in the world at that time. Among them, he would talk about the need for courage, attentiveness and respect in the course of our duties. The Armed Forces have always been an organisation which prides itself on its valuesbased leadership philosophy and I for one am proud to have moved from one organisation to another which reflects the importance of values in our daily lives. When presenting to the Probationary Monitors, I often reflect on courage, and we analyse what it means. We look at physical courage and discuss how everyone can be frightened but that physical courage is about how we overcome and
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deal with that fear. Perhaps more importantly for you is the issue of moral courage – this is doing what you know to be right not what is necessarily popular. Naturally in the Armed Forces, courage is expected, and some service personnel sadly pay the ultimate price for their bravery. At the end of this week, we shall commemorate Remembrance. An act that is important to me and many veterans like me. People sometimes ask me why I think it is important to commemorate in this way and I simply say, it is so we can remember those who sacrificed everything for us. Everyday, as I enter the Indoor Range, I am reminded of an officer who paid the ultimate sacrifice whilst serving with the same Regiment I was to go on and join. I want to share his final journey with you so you too can remember. Captain Michael Allmand (E41) was commanding the leading platoon of a Company of the 6th Gurkha Rifles in Burma on 11th June 1944, when the Battalion was ordered to attack the Pin Him Road Bridge. The enemy had already succeeded in holding up their advance for 24 hours. The approach to the bridge was very narrow and the low-lying land on either side was swampy and densely covered in jungle. The enemy, who were dug in along the banks of the road and in the jungle, were putting up the most desperate resistance. As the platoon came within 20 yards of the Bridge, the enemy opened heavy and accurate fire,