Family and friends of Captain Richard Channer will recognise this tie of his regiment, the Royal Artillery. As an RA Bombardier, junior to him in rank and service, I thank his wife Christine and daughter Alison for the privilege today of saluting his qualities as a soldier. Stalwart in armed struggle, he brought those qualities into his life work of reconciliation across the world.
As World War Two began he was fresh out of school in England. As the son of an officer (later Major-General) in the Indian Army, it was natural for him to be trained as an officer in India. He was commissioned there as Second Lieutenant at the age of 19.
The Japanese made their swift conquest of South-East Asia and, in 1944 from Burma, they invaded India through Nagaland in the North-East region. Field Marshal William Slim was the overall British commander in a desperately fought ten-week campaign, which cost 16,500 Allied casualties and over 53,000 Japanese deaths. Victory there, in the Battles of Imphal and Kohima, was one of the turning points of the whole war, as the Indian Army pursued the Japanese into Burma.
Imphal was where Captain Channer played his heroic part, commanding a unit of four 25-pounder guns in a dangerous forward position. Here he was wounded, and for his courage was awarded the Military Cross. The citation was signed by Field Marshal Slim.
After the war he was offered a commission in the regular Army. Instead he enlisted in the permanent staff of Moral Re-Armament (MRA). At that stage it was helping prepare the democracies for the re-entry of Germany and Japan into the family of nations.
But for the rest of his life he treasured his allegiance to the Gunners and to the Burma veterans. On Remembrance Day in London, Gunners parade at the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner for a Christian service. They then join other veterans in a march past the Cenotaph in Whitehall. He took part in this each year until his early nineties.
He had close friends among the Naga people, and at their invitation returned to North-East India, living into the issues they face today. And through several visits to Japan, deep fellowship grew with Japanese ashamed of the false ideology their country had followed. Remembering Imphal and Kohima, Dick’s conclusion was “These battles are behind us. Forgiveness with vision is the key to the future.”
From bamboo cut in Nagaland he carved a few small crosses. One of these he gave to William Slim, later learning that the Field Marshal kept it at his bedside. In 2015 on the 70th anniversary of the ending of the war in the Far East, Dick was deeply moved by the British Legion request to lay their wreath at Slim’s statue in Whitehall. He also presented a cross to the Queen.
The Royal Artillery have a Latin motto which translates as “Everywhere where right and glory lead”. This also fits the range of work Dick did with MRA. In 1972 I was the youngest member of a small team, mainly British, who moved through Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon to Cyprus. From there Dick and I flew to Iran. During those weeks I observed the spiritual and physical exercises that kept him fit and alert; his humble listening to those who had grievances against Britain; his respect for people of other races and creeds; his fortitude in tough situations, and his morale-boosting for younger ones who needed encouragement. A sensitive soul who had witnessed horrific images of battle, he radiated compassion and hope.
When we talk about the Indian Army in this context, of course we mean the army raised in India as part of the British Empire. Starting with Dick’s father (who I knew in my student days), many Channers have played their part in Britain’s transit from the control of Empire to partnership in the Commonwealth and beyond.
Perhaps the high point of Empire was the celebration in London of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in I897. Rudyard Kipling, the poet of Empire, summed up the event:
The tumult and the shouting dies ˗
The captains and the kings depart ˗
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
A humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget ˗ lest we forget!
In recent weeks two captains have departed from us, Captain Sir Tom Moore and Captain Dick Channer MC, veterans of the same Asian campaign. In peace as in war, each in his own style, they upheld the honour of this country, by what they stood for and how they lived.
To God be the glory.
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