“It’s not about glorifying it,” said Michael Copland, a relative of one of those who fought at Passchendaele (“I died in hell”: sacrifice of war dead remembered at Passchendaele, 31 July). It would be worse than sad if that was the case. But it might be worth wondering about the vigorous encouragement for the public, and children in particular, to remember something which clearly none had experienced.

This remembered event is a construction which generally follows a comfortable and politically convenient narrative. Crucially what it fails to include is why 100 years later we have still not grasped that creating an enormous war-making machine underpinned by a militaristic mindset is a sure way to more misery.

Perhaps statements such as Michael Copland’s are a hopeful sign that people are beginning to see that there is something unsatisfactory in this endless commemoration of the dead. It was not only the 20,000 or so conscientious objectors during the first world war who objected to that conflict. Many times more supported them actively and countless more passively. Surely it’s time to give a thought to the living and start putting in place political and economic structures that minimise violent conflict and promote a better life for all.

Jan Melichar

Project coordinator, Men Who Said No

• “Funerals are pretty compared to deaths,” wrote Tennessee Williams. The same could be said about events marking the first world war. Watching the Passchendaele commemoration performed by professional actors and royals, backed by ranks of sombre faces competing for attention with silly hats, brought to mind the words of the “last Tommy”, Harry Patch, who considered such events “showbusiness and nothing else.” If relatives of the fallen gain comfort, that’s fine. Most of us had family members involved in the first world war, but the notion that remembering the past prevents any repetition is sadly untrue. Europe may be relatively peaceful, but the presence of Theresa May and defence secretary Michael Fallon at the commemoration is a reminder that these days we export conflict by selling arms and expertise to repressive regimes like Saudi Arabia who inflict death and destruction on predominantly civilian populations. We can view flickering black and white images of Passchendaele from the safe distance the passing of a century gives, but Yemen is here and now in colour and HD.How many more commemorations will it take to remind our leaders to stop facilitating so many needless deaths?

Karen Barratt

Winchester

• When Hugh Wellesley-Smith (Letters, 31 July) says: “Had the Germans broken through, they could have rolled up the Channel ports,” he doesn’t mention that, in 1918, just a few months after the end of the Passchendaele campaign, the Germans’ spring offensive pushed the allies off the ridges and Passchendaele was given up. In fact, the allies fell back to a smaller salient, as recommended by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorriens in 1915 – for which suggestion he was sacked.

Yes, a year later the war was over, but, apart from the fact that the surviving Germans were psychologically beaten and few replacements were arriving to support them, I think the arrival of huge numbers of fresh Americans on the western front might have had some bearing on the outcome. From whichever context you look at it, it is possible to honour the victims, while recognising that the slaughter achieved nothing.

Danny Tanzey

Thornton Cleveleys, Lancashire

• Many people want nothing to do with state war ceremonies, freighted as they are with military signifiers, upper-class hat-wearers and religious placeholders, for whom my parents felt nothing but disdain as a result of their wartime experiences.

That is because men and women like my parents – dad, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm engineer, and mum, very proud Women’s Land Army volunteer – were socialists, and never promoted states’ pomposity, or the endless support of the officer class, whom my father often laughed at. They never “celebrated” any war remembrance.

I think Britain should adopt a non-militaristic war memorial, so we can all remember the achievement of the majority of wartime people who ushered in the best change ever for Britain: Labour’s welfare state under Clement Attlee.

Louise Hunter

London

• Having watched the ceremonies connected to the battle of Passchendaele I have been sad remembering a great uncle lost in the battle of the Somme but also sad that we are leaving behind those nations with whom we have so much history, horrible and good. Is it not time that, in this last year of being connected to our cultural and historic relations, we invited a German contingent to the remembrance services in November?

Rita McGhee

Fatfield, Tyne and Wear

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