It’s hard to write a letter to someone who doesn’t have a name, nationality or a face I recognise.
But I’m still going to write because, when I look at ‘your’ war with the hundred years’ perspective that the centenary allows, there’s something I want to say.
I won’t patronise you by saying I ‘know how it must have felt’, or how it all came about. I have no idea what it must have been like, nor am I a historian.
What I do know though is that you gave your life, and did so far from home. And if you were one of the more than nine million from the Commonwealth who fought side-by-side with British troops on the western front, you may have died a very long way from home indeed. And done so, I know, not as a conscript but as someone who volunteered. Why? Because you saw it as your duty - as a citizen of the Commonwealth - to fight for what it stood for, and do so in a faraway country.
And that, I believe, is a truly humbling fact for us all today.
I imagine you thought you were setting off to fight in a ‘just war’, with right on your side. And I hope that, as you stand there - frozen in time and looking down at the crowds of people walking by you every day – you will take pride in the fact that, yes, what you did was worthwhile.
You see, I believe that the world we live in today, and the freedoms we enjoy, have come about because people like you stood up for what’s right.
‘Your’ war wasn’t the last word, of course. Many great – and some terrible – things have happened along the way, but the world we live in today is a richer, fairer and better place because of the sacrifices that you – and millions like you – made across the century.
This year, and every year, we remember you and give thanks. We’ll never forget.
Sajid Javid
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
--------------------------------------------
Feeling inspired? Write your own letter to the unknown soldier and join the 10,000+ people who have already contributed including Stephen Fry, Lee Child and Malorie Blackman.
Post your letter on your own Wattpad account with the tag #UnknownSoldier, and then upload it to our online memorial at www.1418NOW.org.uk/letter/new