“They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM”
Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)
Today we lead such busy lives. Sometimes things seem so important they fill our thoughts. We worry about taxes, airports, schools, crime and downgraded hospital services. This month on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month I joined others in Hemel Hempstead to remember all those who over our history have laid down their lives for us in past conflicts. As an ex Guardsman I could not help but remember my friends and colleagues who risked their lives whilst serving our country. On Sunday I joined with others to march from the Town Hall to the War Memorial, followed by a Church Service and afterwards I joined a few ‘old soldiers’ for a beer at the British legion.
Today we all enjoy the right to live in a free and democratic country. We should never forget those who have selflessly laid down their lives to give us this freedom. It is imperative that we never forget their sacrifice and do all we can to make sure that the rights, freedoms and democratic principles that they died for are never squandered or put at risk.
I am sure that many of you may be familiar with the extract from a poem by Rupert Brooke, who died at Gallipoli in the First World War, below:
‘The Soldier’
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England.
Mike Penning MP | 
