Evening star., 1933-11-05
BY A. A. MILNE.

BY A. A. MILNE.
~ N SATURDAY for the fifteenth
memorate the heroic dead
~ who fell In the World War.
The usual speeches will be
made, the usual sermons preached. the
usual leading articles written: and from
every one of these threnodies, however
pacific in intention, the suggestion viii
escape that to fight fo- ones country
is the noblest form of self-expression.
to die for ones country the noblest
form Of self-immolation. Our heroic
dead, our immortal dead; dulce ct
decorum est pro pat-ia mort: God save
the King. or the President or some
body @. for whom, however, heroic
death is not imminent.
1t Is this enduring sentimentallty
about war which is the great enemy OF
peace. Looking at 1t in the cold light
of reason, we see that a man Is not
hero who Is conScripted, or who Is IN
the army for economic reasons, or who
Joins up. as I did, because life in war
time Is hell anyway. and only IN uni
form can one escape from thinking
about it. Nor, we observe, do these
ordinary unheroic men become heroes
Just because an incompetent COM
mander has hurled them in mass upon
blackberries until they are ripe for the
honor. if chance picks upon them. of
unknown warrior Alive or dead, they
retain the nobility or ignobility of char
acter which was theirs in peace time.
just as the young men Of today, who
have not yet had war forced upon
them, are noble and ignoble.
ComicaIIy Unheroic.
The great enemy of peace then. IS
this sentimental feeling that war is q
heroic thing In fact, it is almost conf
cally unheroic. No modern nation
thinks Of going to war unless it Is con-
vinced OF being on the winning side.
A nations honor waits upon its army
and its fleet, and only when these are
deemed invincible is that honor ready
to take offense. From my boyhood
can still catch an echo of that noble
slogan, Remember the Maine!" In
how many newspapers, from how many
throats, Americas honor, Americas s
prestige, cried for satisfaction . from
Spain. America-Spain. Compare them
on the map. No; war may have been
heroic once, but not now, not now.
But though modern war is not heroic
in itself, it might be urged that, since
those who fall in war fall for a cause
outside themselves, making, as the
threnodists say, the supreme sacrifice,
they at least have died nobly. Well, let
us continue to be unsentimental.
have heard publicists talk of the Polish
Corridor. I have heard them say that
If the Polish Corridor were threatened
it would be the duty Of England to de-
fo,od re inf n IN, dou
publicists talked of the integrity of Bel
GUM. Most of them, as it happened,
were above military age. But let us
concede that this was source OF con-
slant regret to them; let us concede
that, had they been younger, they would
have rushed to arms. What then?
Suppose God had said to one of them:
THE integrity of Belgium will be for
ever preserved If you let yourself be tor
tured to death this afternoon, as thou
sands will be tortured to death If war Is
declared-how many of them would
have made the supreme sacrifice?
How many heroic deaths should we be
commemorating this Saturday?
War Is Man Made.
For the cold, unsentimental truth Is
that men go into action knowing that
casualties will be suffered, but thinking
and hoping and praying $50 unheroic
are the ordinary people who die in war;
that the casualties will be not to them
selves, but to their companions. Ordi-
nary people will take the risk Of death
gladly, as young fools take 1t daily on
motor bicycles. as men take 1t in air
planes or in search Of Pole or after
big game or among the mountains, for
it is just this risk which gives them the
excitmert that they need. But the abb
solute certainty of death Is something
far removed from this A man Is. in
deed, hero If, longing for life, he ac-
cepts death Of his own will. How many
heroes are we commemorating this
year?
It is necessary to look clearly and un-
sentimentally upon our cenotaphs II We
are to reach that haven which many OF