Lest we forget

November 05, 2009  

Ducking out of a fascinating supply chain summit in Westminster for a stretch of the legs, I stumbled into the gardens of Westminster Abbey, where the memorials for fallen soldiers were being prepared for Remembrance Day.

After a moment's silent contemplation, shocked by the number of tributes on display, I studied more closely some of the dedications in the Field of Remembrance. As you'd expect, some of these were extremely poignant. The soldiers being remembered dated from those who fought in the First World War, to those who fell in on-going conflicts in Afghanistan.

Why is the editor of ShD writing about this, when he has fork lift trucks to get stuck into? Well, one area of the Field of Remembrance was dedicated to the Royal Logistics Corps, a regiment of the British Army in which many of our industry's good people served. These brave soldiers do what a lot of you do every day of your lives, but under the most extreme conditions.

So when the clock strikes 11 on the 11th November, spare a thought for those who fell, for those who are still fighting and for those who still live with the memories. If you have no military connections yourself and wish to focus your hearts on a particular soldier, look no further than 30-year-old Staff Sergeant Olaf Sean George Schmid, of the Royal Logistic Corps, who lost his life in Afghanistan on the afternoon of Saturday 31 October 2009.