I got to hold a piece of the Berlin Wall last month. It was only a small piece about the size of a golf ball, but dripping with symbolism and history.

The piece of wall belongs to John Harris, pictured, a Christian friend who I was interviewing for our local newspaper in the week prior to Anzac Day. 

John has a fascinating story to tell. We can all remember the pictures on TV and the interviews with people who were there when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. John’s story is a bit different. He was there the night the wall went up!

At the time he was serving in a British rifle regiment, the Green Jackets of the Sharpe TV series fame, and their job was to protect the British sector of Berlin against the Russians.

That day the alarm sounded and John and his mates were given an ominous message from an officer: “This is NOT a rehearsal.”

They arrived at their post in front of the Brandenburg Gate to find themselves facing hundreds of Russian armoured vehicles. They had always been told World War III would probably start in Berlin. That day they firmly believed they would soon be firing at the Russians in the first exchanges of a new war – an exchange they would probably not have survived, given they were facing 1500 tanks and 500,000 Russian soldiers.

In the event, the Russians were there not to invade, but to build a wall – one aimed at stopping the flow of refugees from East to West. But for a few hours John and his fellow Green Jackets believed they might be living through their last day on this Earth. 

John’s story struck a chord with me for two reasons.

Firstly, as time passes and a new generation of young people enjoy the fruits of a consumer society made possible by the sacrifices of those who lie buried in foreign fields, we wonder how we would cope if it all happened again.

People like John and those generations who have gone before him were bred with a sense of duty, a faith in God, and a belief in good and evil. John and the Green Jackets would have taken on the Russians. And they would have died, or at the very least been taken prisoner. It would never have occurred to them to do anything else.

They would have been the latest in a long line of men and women through history who believed in a cause greater than themselves. Would young people today be prepared to make the same sacrifice if called on to do so? Despite much evidence to the contrary, I believe they would. My fervent prayer is that we never have to find out.

Secondly, I was struck with how much simpler the world seemed even just 30 or so years ago. The Cold War seemed clear cut: It was us against the Godless Communists (although Vietnam showed us it wasn’t quite that simple).

Now the world is a much more complicated place. Sometimes it is not always clear who the enemy even is. Or if there is an enemy at all. Or perhaps, to quote comic strip author Walt Kelly: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” 

What is certain is that the Berlin Wall may be gone, but there will always be other walls to challenge our freedom and our faith.

– Duncan Pardon