On honouring one's enemy in war
War is a constant in human history. It is an effect of the Fall. And while it is often an unfortunate necessity, it is vital (and here I am relying on Just War theory) that we do not demonize the enemy. In the anger and wrath of the killing of war, we must ever remember that one’s enemies are human beings with immortal souls and fathers and brothers and sons and friends.
We see this at certain periods during World War I, which taught the West how to perfect the mechanized killing of thousands upon thousands. But in the midst of it there were glimpses of humanity.
One that impressed itself upon me when I was a young boy growing up in England had to do with aerial warfare in the so-called Great War. The man above, Baron Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (1892-1918), a remarkable German fighter pilot, is one such case. When he was shot down (there are ongoing debates about how this happened), he was given a burial by the Australians with full military honours (see pic below). The funeral was organized by No. 3 Squadron AFC's commanding officer Major David Blake (1887-1965) who regarded the Red Baron, as von Richtofen was known because of the colour of his triplane, a Fokker Dr. 1, with great respect.
One of the memorial wreaths laid on his grace, which was initially near Amiens, bore the words, “To Our Gallant and Worthy Foe.” After the war, he was reburied in Wiesbadens (capital city of the federal state of Hesse), the Südfriedhof (southern cemetery), with other family members. Apparently, people still leave various model planes and things on the grave.
