There can be no simple answers in a time of war. As weaponry and methods of destruction become ever more accurate and deadly, so the moral questions facing human beings become more complicated. It was with this thought in mind that I visited the National Army Museum in Chelsea. Although a museum devoted to the armed forces is most likely to appeal to the young male visitor, there is plenty for even the most ardent pacifist to consider when viewing this excellently curated collection, and it serves as a reminder of just how many conflicts, world-wide, British troops have been involved in over the centuries. I was intrigued by a large noticeboard where visitors are invited to pin up notes on which they express thoughts evinced by a viewing of the collection. One, in particular, caught my attention: 'Only The Dead Have Seen The End Of War'. This chilling observation has been attributed to Plato and is engraved on the wall of the Imperial War Museum in London.
One can only pray that one day human beings may find another way to resolve conflicts.
In contrast to the museum, the nearby Royal Hospital for Army Pensioners strikes one as a haven of tranquillity. The famous Christopher Wren buildings, set in the beautiful grounds of the Chelsea Gardens by the embankment of the river Thames, must indeed provide ‘Succour and Relief for veterans broken by age and war’, as demanded by the warrant issued by Charles II.
Wren’s most famous building, St. Paul’s Cathedral, was almost completed when he was commissioned to design a hospital for soldiers in the form of ‘a college or monastrie’ and he based his design on that of the Hôpital des Invalides in Paris. Today, the Royal Hospital stands essentially as it was when first built, although it suffered some bomb damage during the Second World War. The magnificent building houses some 350 soldiers who all wear the red uniforms by which they are known. When a soldier enters the community he must give up his army pension and any war disability pension he has received in the past, but he can retain a pension earned from civilian employment.
There is a well staffed hospital within the building where the seriously ill and old are cared for, and I met one delightful young Rumanian woman whose job was to look after a wheelchair user as part of her training as a nurse. I was irresistibly reminded of the last chapter in Dickens’ Oliver Twist when, after his final visit to Fagin in the shadow of the gallows and all the horrors the boy had experienced , he was adopted by Mr Brownlow and thus joined a little society where conditions approached ‘as nearly to one of perfect happiness as can ever be known in this changing world.’ The Royal Hospital’s recreation rooms are pleasant and spacious and the dining hall is quite stunning, especially, as when I saw it, the uniformed men were all seated at table taking lunch, beneath some impressive portraits of great figures from the past. There is a recreation room with a bar, a billiards room, library and television. Live entertainment is provided every weekend and the Pensioners are free to opt in or out as they please. Many seem to be particularly enamoured of the young Welsh soprano Katherine Jenkins, a twentyfirst-century version of Vera Lynn, who has formed a special relationship with the men.
At the end of the Crimean War, that great champion of the soldiers’ cause, Florence Nightingale, wrote, ‘These people who talk to us have all fed their children on the fat of the land and dressed them in velvet and silk, while we have been far away. I have had to see my children dressed in a dirty blanket and an old pair of regimental trousers and to see them fed on raw salt meat and rum and biscuit – and nine thousand of my children are lying from causes which might have been prevented, in their forgotten graves. But I can never forget. People must have seen that long, long dreadful winter to know what it was.’ Florence Nightingale would surely be happy to know that many brave men, who have in our times experienced at first-hand the horrors of warfare, and survived, are able to end their days in such a comfortable and peaceful environment.
Cicely Herbert is one of the trio who founded and continue to run Poems on the Underground. Her poetry collection In Hospital (Katabasis 1992) describes her stay in London University College Hospital after a road accident in which she nearly lost a leg.
Cicely Herbert is one of the founders of Poems on the Underground. Her poetry collection In Hospital (Katabasis 1992) describes her stay in London University College Hospital after a road accident.