A moment of reflection

Last night I watched one of the most moving - and pride-inducing - things I have seen this year. The sight of literally thousands and thousands of people, from babies to war veterans lining the route at the repatriation ceremony in Wootton Bassett was both heartbreaking and wonderful. Those 8 boys - for boys they were with not one of them over 30 - deserved their heroes' homecoming. Their names were William Aldridge (18), James Backhouse (18), Joseph Murphy (18), Daniel Simpson (20), Daniel Hume (22), Jonathan Horne (28), Lee Scott (26) and John Brackpool (27). All died within 24 hours of each other. As India Knight commented on Sunday, we thought the age of cannon-fodder had passed; it seems not. We should remember them and think perhaps the youth today is not quite as bad as we like to make out.