Dear Soldier,
A hundred years ago, when the war broke out, did you realise how much your life and that of everyone around you would change?
The truth is we'll never know. When you fell, details like this - your name, your past, the battles you fought and the people you loved and left behind - were lost.
But we have not forgotten you.
We have built monuments in your honour and every year we remember - marking the sacrifice that you and millions who fought beside you in the trenches at Somme, Ypres, Gallipoli and other battlefields made.
We recall with thanks the contribution of those who worked so hard to treat the injured and keep our country going at home.
Yet the legacy that all of you would have wanted most - a lasting peace, an end to conflict - remains beyond our reach.
I wish that I could tell you differently: that we've learnt from the mistakes of the past, but the peaceful world to which we all aspire is still a work in progress.
So, for the next hundred years, let your statue continue to stand as both a reminder and a reproach to us and the generations that follow. Every time we think of you or pass by Paddington Station, let us commit again, again and again to build the better future you wanted.
This is the most important role you could ever play - a hero in battle and a guiding light for peace.
Nick Clegg
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Letter To An Unknown Soldier
Short StoryThis story is a collection of short letters that have been submitted to the Unknown Soldier project. The project is inspired by a statue that stands on Platform 1 of Paddington Station in London, representing all the millions of soldiers who died –...
