The Scotsman Monday 29 June 1925 page 9-KIRKCALDY MEMORIAL.-LORD WESTER WEMYSS AND POST-WAR PROBLEMS.
"THE MENTAL REVOLUTION." -The flags on all the principal buildings in Kirkcaldy flew at half-mast on Saturday until a signal flag from the roof of the new Art Gallery was fully hoisted to denote that the town's war memorial had been unveiled. The unveiling of the memorial by Admiral Lord Wester Weymss took place in the presence of large crowds which thronged the Abbotshall and Bennochy Roads, at the junction of which stand the entrance pillars to the gardens in front of the Art Gallery. Here the ceremony took place from a temporary platform, the purple cloth which screened the Wall of Honour, in the centre of which stands the memorial stone, which also bears a tribute to those who fought, falling at the touch of a button pressed about a hundred yards away. The effect was impressive.
The wall, which is the town's memorial, erected by public subscription, forms a balcony in front of the Art Gallery and Museum. At opposite ends of it are the dates "1914 " and " 1918." Between these dates are the tablets bearing the names of the fallen. The memorial stone bears designs in relief, and projects above the level of the wall.
The ceremony was remarkable for the number of men and women who fainted, whistles blowing every few minutes for ambulance men and nurses. The reason for this was perhaps the lengthy wait which the crowd had before the ceremony commenced, every available space being occupied long before the proceedings were timed to start. The day, though fine, was not particularly hot. It was a busy Saturday for Kirkcaldy, for the unveiling of the memorial synchronised with the conference of the British Legion in the town, with the second opening of the Raith House fete, and with important tennis and bowling meetings. For two hours all the shops in Kirkcaldy were closed.
Naval, military, and Air Force detachments and members of semi-military organisations lined the streets or were present at the ceremony. The British Legion delegates attended with Lord Glentanar at their head, and, like the relatives of the fallen, who occupied a special station near the platform, laid a wreath at the foot of the memorial. For fully half an hour the crowds filed past in procession.
WAR-TIME AIRS.
The Provost and members of the Town Council, in their new robes of office, with their guests, marched to the ceremony, headed by a band playing war-time airs. A massed choir, under the Corporation organist, Mr James Gray, led the choral parts of the service. A special prayer was given by the Rev. Dr Fairweather, while the prayer of dedication was delivered by the Rev. Dr Campbell, minister of Kirkcaldy Parish Church. Black Watch pipers played a lament after the dedication, and buglers sounded "The Last Post," after which a two-minutes' silence was observed, followed by the "Reveille." The proceedings concluded with the singing of the National Anthem. A tree was afterwards planted by Lord Wester Wemyss.
Among those on the platform were Sir Ralph Anstruther, Sir Robert C. Lockhart, Sheriff Dudley Stuart, Sheriff Fleming, Colonel St Clair Oswald, Mr T. Kennedy, M.P., and Mr W. L. Macindoe, Town-Clerk. A body of ex-Service men marched from Port Brae.
Provost Kilgour said that he felt that Kirkcaldy had realised to the full one of its finest dreams. They had waited long, but he claimed that the result had justified the waiting. By the erection of the Gallery and Wall of Dedication and the laying out of the grounds they had enhanced, in no small measure, the beauty of their town and increased the pride of those who wore striving for her welfare. For many future generations it was hoped that the Museum and Art Gallery would be a centre of inspiration and knowledge, while the grounds would, he trusted, be preserved as a place of beauty for all time. That was all to the good, but was quite subsidiary to the main object in view. The primary object was a war memorial. Inscribed on the Wall of Dedication were the names of nearly 1000 citizens.
LORD WESTER WEMYSS'S SPEECH.
Lord Wester Wemyss, who was in naval uniform, said that the unveiling of a war memorial was a ceremony which could not help but profoundly move all those who assisted in it, for it recalled those four blood-stained years of war. The people of Kirkcaldy, in raising the memorial, were giving tangible expression to their desire to do honour to the memory of those of their fellow-citizens who had died, and, in doing so, they were also paying a tribute to that great virtue – performance of duty.
The time was not far distant when their places would be taken by those to whom the Great War would no longer be an experience and remembrance, but a period of past history, and they must embue their children and grandchildren with their feelings, for thus would be created one more of those noble traditions which had helped to make this country. And while they were honouring the dead they should not forget the living, some of whom had lost their all, who through shattered health were unable to earn their living. They owed them a deep debt of gratitude which was difficult to pay, but he could not help thinking that if everybody there would form the resolution never to let the opportunity pass of showing them sympathy, it would, indeed, be a worthy coping stone to the monument to their dead comrades.
The years which followed the war had been a time when pledges had been unredeemed and hopes unfulfilled – a time of universal difficulty, which had not been made any easier by the mental revolution, through which the whole world was passing. Standards which had served them for generations were being swept aside. Moral foundations which they had ever looked upon as sound were showing signs of quivering, and in that atmosphere moral forces had been let loose which were too dimly, if at all, understood, and of which no man could conceive the end, and which no man had yet learned how to govern, much less how to control. They entered the war with high ideals, convinced of the justice of their cause, and believing that victory would bring them peace and security, but experience had taught them that a victory in arms, although it was an essential step in that direction, was not, in itself, sufficient to gain their ends, and they found themselves still fighting, not against the enemy of the other day, but against a combination of hostile circumstances, which, in their way, were as dangerous as ever were German bombs or shells.
NATION'S FUTURE DESTINY.
There was the reaction which naturally enough set in after four years of unprecedented strain and stress – a reaction which helped rather to sap our energies and to undermine our self-confidence. The trade on which our welfare so greatly depended had been entirely dislocated by the worldwide upheaval. Many remedies had been proposed and many attempts made, but so far with little success, and there was a real danger that we might turn towards schemes which in truth were impracticable, illusory, and idealistic. Ideals were great things, but unless they were based on realities they were like a Will-o'-the-Wisp, and would lead those who were seeking safety into danger. They had to ask themselves whether their ideals were based on realities, for on the correct answer to that question lay, in a great degree, their future destiny.
