{"id":54753,"date":"2015-03-05T14:12:15","date_gmt":"2015-03-05T14:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=b776d632d95e2af7332244b4225c8deb"},"modified":"2015-03-05T14:12:15","modified_gmt":"2015-03-05T14:12:15","slug":"speech-national-memorial-arboretum-commemorating-victoria-cross-recipients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=54753","title":{"rendered":"Speech: National Memorial Arboretum: commemorating Victoria Cross recipients"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Thank you for making this journey to the National Memorial Arboretum.<\/p>\n<p>We are here to honour extraordinary acts of heroism.<\/p>\n<p>In recent months there have been many events and memorials to mark the centenary of the First World War.<\/p>\n<p>From dignified religious services to the wonderfully moving sea of poppies at the Tower of London, the nation has found ways to remember the sacrifice of a generation, which endured a conflict that would define the last century. <\/p>\n<p>As part of the commemorations, we will lay a paving stone for every winner of the Victoria Cross close to the anniversary of the award.<\/p>\n<p>Some will be laid near war memorials, but for the most part they will be laid in the street close to the VC\u2019s home. The choice of a paving stone was deliberate.<\/p>\n<p>We wanted to show that out of ordinary streets and ordinary lives can come extraordinary people.<\/p>\n<p>The first paving stone was unveiled in August last year and will continue until November 2018. Ceremonies great and small throughout the UK remembering extraordinary people.<\/p>\n<p>Today, we are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/pm-praises-the-remarkable-valour-and-devotion-to-duty-of-the-overseas-born-recipients-of-the-victoria-cross\">honouring the 145 men<\/a> who received the Victoria Cross who came from all over the world to defend liberty and freedom. <\/p>\n<p>Most are remembered with great pride in their own country \u2013 roads, schools, hospitals are named after them. But we want to remember them here, as a small act of gratitude for standing shoulder to with our grandparents or our great grandparents.<\/p>\n<p>They help built the foundations for modern Britain.<\/p>\n<p>Their legacy is our legacy:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a country which respects different faiths <\/li>\n<li>where people from different backgrounds can live together in peace<\/li>\n<li>where liberty is cherished <\/li>\n<li>where our different and shared values unite us<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We decided to lay the stones together in one ceremony today to symbolise the many miles travelled, over many pavements to defend this country.<\/p>\n<p>And to symbolise the difficult path the world would have to tread to find peace, forgiveness and reconciliation.<\/p>\n<p>But, above all to remind us that bravery knows no national boundary. That in any place on the globe, out of ordinary streets and ordinary lives can come truly extraordinary people. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eric Pickles&#8217; speech commemorating the Victoria Cross recipients of the First World War who were born overseas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}