Every time when spring is in the air in March; every time when we hear the mellifluous voice of the Koel (Eudymanys Scolopacea), the images of a historical event fleet past in our minds, frame by frame in slow motion.
The day is unforgettable for our people, as it is historical and is an epic movement in our modern history. A shocked world appreciated, defying the mighty enemy with determination and courage, not bowing to the repression and insult to our nation and people despite our national mindset and spirit of sympathy and kindness to everyone, richness in military strategy of our people in fighting against hegemony and highhandedness, invincible national spirit, the icon of national unity and a thrilling movement.
The frames of this movement in our mind reminds us of the withered leaves and bare trees in the heat of spring, singing Koels and red arm badge with white star, white star in the flying red flag, arms and ammunitions of different sorts borne by revolutionaries without wearing uniforms, determined spirit, selflessness and sacrifices showing on their faces, joining hands together under the leadership of a national leader, exciting and energetic young soldiers of 'Burma Defence Army' ready for battle against Japanese fascists.
This was the beginning of the historical day in our modern history popularly known later as 'Revolution Day', on which day the wave of unity hit the repressive fascist system and freed our country from the yoke of these fascists.
The embryo of this revolution originated on 27 March 1945 and now it has been 64 years. But those who always distorted the historical facts to cover the truth and wished to exploit the history for their own benefit made this historical day senseless and bloody.
The nation marked this historical day as 'Revolutionary Day' until its 43rd anniversary at the 'Revolution Park' in Rangoon where the anti-fascist army and its soldiers started their journey under the leadership of our national and independence hero Gen. Aung San. After that, it was changed to 'Armed Forces Day' and has been celebrated annually under this name until today. So this year the annual celebration will be '64th Armed Forces Day' instead of '64th Revolution Day'.
The essence and tradition of these two events are quite contrary.
Under these circumstances, the new generation is not aware of the essence of the revolution, bitterness of fascism and revolutionary spirit against what was repressive rule. Now they recognize this day only as saluting the ageing and frail military dictator. They see this day as aggravating people's hatred against the dictators instead of winning people's hearts.
No one is interested in this 'armed forces day' and watch the event now.
The number of veteran revolutionaries who took part in this historical struggle is dwindling day by day so that these persons who know well the true facts need to hand them over to the younger generations otherwise this historical event will be forgotten and eroded from our history once and for all.
