In a foreign field

The fighting in Fallujah has resulted in many US casualties. It made me
think about the parents of these soldiers who will suffer the consequences.
No doubt some will be reconciled to the loss given the nature of their loved
one's commitment, but others will find it hard to reconcile themselves to
the death of their son in a "foreign field." Last week also three British
Black Watch soldiers were killed in Iraq at a road-block by a suicide
bomber. Their parents have expressed great bitterness to PM Blair over
their "unnecessary" deaths.
Today we were in Beersheva, and took a walk in the afternoon. What has this
got to do with British and American soldiers dying in Iraq? Well we
happened to visit the British military cemetery in Beersheva. We counted
ca. 1,500 head stones resulting from the battle for Beersheva in 1917. Most
of them were Australian and at least one of them was Jewish, Captain van den
Bergh of the British Army.
During WWI the British army in Egypt was fighting the Turks, who with German
support, were entrenched in Gaza. The defenses were so formidable that the
British could not break through. A risky plan was devised in which the
Australian Light Horse regiment was sent over the desert by night from Egypt
to Beersheva. The Turks were surprised by such an attack, and were
overwhelmed in a suicidal horse charge, one of the last in military history.
The charging Australians and some British were completely vulnerable and
sustained heavy casualties. But, they managed to capture Beersheva with one
of its wells intact. This enabled the British Army to outflank the Turks in
Gaza, and they were forced to withdraw. Their next line of defense was at a
small river further north, called the Yarkon, where Tel Aviv now stands.
But, they were vanquished there too and the British captured Palestine.
Those brave soldiers who fell in a foreign field ensured the defeat of
Turkey and Germany and the victory of Britain, which lead inevitably to the
British Mandate for Palestine and eventually to the State of Israel.
One day there may be a British or an American military cemetery in Fallujah,
where people will go for an afternoon walk, and marvel at the courage of
those who fought for the freedom of others. Although the Iraqis tend not to
show much gratitude.
Nearby the British cemetery in Beersheva was an obelisk, right near a main
road, that many cars pass by without ever noticing. On it was an epitaph
explaining that this had been erected in 2002 in memory of the 298 honorable
Turkish soldiers who had died there fighting for their country. Against the
obelisk were laid wreaths from the New Zealand and Australian armies. Once
the battles fade into history and their consequences have become
irreversible, the bitterness may die, and the dead may be left to lie in
peace.