An Unknown Soldier

Monday 18 June 2007

I met them over a long Saturday barbecue, parents quietly proud of their boy. It took nearly the whole evening for it to come out.

Their son had wanted to be a soldier since he was five years old. He enlisted after college and is now with Special Forces in Iraq. His father is politically conservative, and their son loves arguing opposing views with him. “Just to bait him,” the mother says. To Read More...

Identity Used To Matter

Saturday 09 June 2007

This is a clip from the 1964 movie Zulu starring Stanley Baker and co-starring Michel Caine in his first film role. It commemorates the Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879 when 140 Welch engineers and other British soldiers held off an attacking force of 4,000 Zulu impi that had just wiped out a British column of 1,000 men and handed Great Britian its worse defeat by native forces ever.

The proud but exhausted Zulu knew who they were. And so did the defenders of the tiny mission station at Rorke's Drift. They won the battle and received more Victoria Crosses than have been awarded in any single action since.

Today our enemies know who they are. We have forgotten.