Patriotism, sacrifice and service — the veterans’ perspective

For men and women with battlefield experience, patriotism, sacrifice, and service are not just abstract ideas, they are lived experi­ences deep-rooted in hardship and sustained endurance in the line of duty.

Such lifelong duty goes be­yond the uniform to include the values of duty, honour, and commitment, long after active military service.

Such has been the life of Ex Lance-Corporal Wisdom Edmund Kudowor, a 97-year-old World War Two (WWII) Veteran, who volunteered for recruitment in 1943 at the age of 15.

He was to be trained and enrolled as a soldier and tradesman for the Artisan Work Company of the then Gold Coast Regiment.

Though looking frail currently after a few days of head surgery, the ex-ser­viceman’s ability to recall his past experiences was excep­tional.

Ex-Lance-Cpl Kudowor lived in an era that saw many young Africans recruited and conscripted to fight for their colonial masters in a war that ravaged half of Europe and claimed al­most 85 million lives.

In a brief yet straight to the point interaction with the Ghana News Agency, he expressed no regret in volunteering, despite the immi­nent danger and harrowing stories about WWII back then.

More sur­pris­ing was his nonchalant atti­tude towards the fact that he was not put on pension immediately after service. He expressed no bitterness nor pain.

He returned to the Gold Coast in 1946 after four years of service without any bene­fits, not until two years ago when he began receiving an annually paid British grant, which was recently increased to 1,350 pounds sterling.

Though the grant did not match the sacrifice, “it is still better than nothing,” he said. Despite his past experiences, the old veter­ans’ patriotism, sacrifice and service did not wane after his return in 1946, at age 18, to the then Gold Coast.

He gained scholarship to further his education (both home and abroad) and with the knowledge acquired, he served his country for almost half a century, first as a pupil teacher, and rising to be­come the Headmaster of the Kpando Technical Institute. He headed other educational institutions and retired as a civil servant.

The veteran was not hap­py about the decline in patriotism and sacrifice, especially among young people in contem­porary Ghana.

Listening attentively due to a hearing challenge, the frail-looking veteran pointed to the attitude of the current generation, most of whom were unwilling to go the extra mile to support their country.

He expressed worry over their focus on immediate gains and monetary rewards for little services rendered.

His observation was cor­roborated by Captain Ben Ed­mund Duah (Rtd), a veteran, who began his service with the Field Engineer Regiment soon after being commis­sioned at age 24 as a young officer in the early 1970s.

The retired Army Captain, who once served with the Delta Company of the Five Battalion of Infantry (5BN) among other positions, said: “Patriotism is non-existent in today’s Ghana, unlike our time when we took pride in openly exercising these values.” He, however, did not entirely blame the youth for not exhibiting such traits.

Capt. Duah (Rtd) attribut­ed the seeming non-patriot­ism by the youth to the strug­gles they see the veterans go through just to survive, after sacrificing for humanity.

The needs and concerns of patriots and forerunners, particularly veterans in Ghana, were largely unmet, compared to other countries, he said.

“The veterans brought honour to our colonial masters and by extension to Ghana. They were not given what they were promised. Right now, the British Gov­ernment gives them some support and that is what sus­tains a lot of them.” Captain Ben Duah stressed the ur­gency for the country to pay more attention to the con­cerns and needs of veterans.

“We should see them as people who voluntarily decided to sacrifice their lives for us. If anybody does this for you, you should be fair enough to look at his interest…these are people who have devoted their lives to save us, therefore we should be nice to them in the form of caring for them,” he noted.

When asked for their opin­ion on many of the youth try­ing to seek greener pastures abroad due to their lack of confidence in the economy, Capt Duah and L/Cpl Kudow­or both agreed that Ghana was still worth sacrificing for, despite the challenges.

Captain Duah, who served during an era awash with military coups d’etats, urged Ghanaians to respect, recog­nise and be willing to support veterans because govern­ment could not shoulder the responsibility alone.

“Citizens should realise that these are people who, some time ago, in their youthful years, sacrificed their precious lives to save others…We expect that as veterans, people will respect and admire them for their values and bravery,” he said.

“I will advise the youth to utilise existing opportunities as a means to serve Ghana. Service to the country, I be­lieve, should be the youths’ primary goal”, Ex L/Cpl Kudowor said.

The two justified the con­tinuous celebration of Veter­ans Day on the 28 of February as a step in the right direc­tion.

This serves as a platform for the youth to learn about the three values of patriot­ism, service and sacrifice, the history behind the celebra­tion and the need to respect veterans.

On February 28, 1948, Veterans of World War II, who had fought with the Gold Coast Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force, organised a peaceful demon­stration, marching to the Christainborg Castle at Osu in Accra, the capital of the Gold Coast, to hand a peti­tion to the colonial governor, demanding their end of war benefits, which they had been promised.

Before reaching the castle, the veterans were ordered to disperse by the colonial police chief. When they refused, he opened fire on them, instantly killing three of the ex-servicemen – Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe, and Private Odartey Lamptey.

The 28 February Cross­roads Shooting is commem­orated every year to honour the veterans for their sacri­fice to the country.

—GNA