The mother of a soldier killed fighting in Afghanistan has revealed how she will mark his 35th birthday today – as the country falls silent for Armistice.
Sergeant Sean Binnie was killed in 2009 while on patrol with the Black Watch in Afghanistan. Today would have been his 35th birthday.
His mum Jannette Binnie said November 11 is always an emotional day, but the family choose to celebrate his life rather than mourn.
Speaking to BBC’s Good Morning Scotland (GMS), Mrs Binnie urged people to take part in Remembrance events today and over the weekend.
Mrs Binnie, from Fraserburgh, said: “We try to celebrate his life, obviously, it’s an emotional day. But we also sit and laugh and we talk about Sean and who he was to us, and the silly things, like the Jack the lad things he would get up to, things like that.
“It helps us as well. I think it’s more important to celebrate his life and existence and what he did than it is to sit and mourn him.
“We try and do something symbolic of Sean every year on his birthday so this year’s quite important. We’re going to go up to the castle to lay a wreath because Sean is buried in Belfast.”
‘Remembrance is about leaving a legacy behind’
Charity Ancre Somme Scotland is currently fundraising to install a memorial bench at her Sean’s primary school in Kirkcaldy where he grew up.
The charity supports the forces, veterans, families and local communities and encourages remembrance.
Mrs Binnie said: “Remembrance is about leaving a legacy behind, and they wanted to leave a legacy for Sean and the Binnie family.
“That’s going to leave a marker of Sean forever.”
Mrs Binnie told GMS that she believes it is “highly important” that children are educated about the conflicts and sacrifices made in modern wars.
She also wants people to remember the world wars, which she describes as the “history we grew up with”.
She said: “For me personally, seeing children wearing a poppy, understanding why they’re wearing a poppy, and understanding remembrance is really important.”
Sean’s sacrifice in Afghanistan did ‘make a difference’
Mrs Binnie said her son’s military career was “everything to him” after he joined the army at the age of 16 in 2003, following in his father’s footsteps.
Sean was deployed to Afghanistan to train the Afghan National Army in the fight against the Taliban.
The 22-year-old was shot as he fought with Taliban insurgents desperately trying to rescue one of his Afghan brothers in arms.
“You never get rid of the despair, the anger, the hurt – it never goes away,” his mum said. “It’s always there, you’re like ‘why did our child have to go?’
“I’m not stupid, Sean joined the army, he died exactly how he would have wanted to – in the thick of a battle in a fight. But as a mum, with an only child, it’s quite difficult.”
Afghanistan, the longest military campaign yet waged by our soldiers, has been dubbed the “Forever War”.
A total of 39 Scots, including personnel from Tayside and Fife, Aberdeenshire, Moray and the Highlands lost their lives over the 20 years.
Many more were physically injured or bore the invisible psychological scars of their service.
In August, when troops were removed from Afghanistan and the Taliban regained control, Mrs Binnie spoke out, claiming that his sacrifice was “all for nothing”.
However, speaking on GMS today she explained: “I now understand that Sean’s life did make a difference, and for as small a difference it made it saved people at the time.
“And that’s what he joined for, he joined to fight for his Queen and country and I’m extremely proud of him and so is his dad.”