In Honour of Remembrance Day
Tomorrow is the 96th Anniversary of Remembrance Day, the day
when, all those years ago, the guns on the Western Front fell silent after over
four years of war. The German forces,
who had inflicted heavy losses on the Allied armies over the previous four
months, were driven back. In order to secure
a peace settlement the Germans called for a suspension of fighting, or an
Armistice, in November. They accepted
the allied terms of unconditional surrender.
The guns fell silent at 11am on the 11th of November 1918.
It is hard to comprehend that over 70 million people who
were mobilised for war. Even more
unimaginable is the fact that between 9 and 13 million were killed in the war and up to a third of
those who died have no known grave. The
anniversary of the moment the guns were silenced on the Western Front has ever
since been a day to remember those who had died in war with the 11th hour of
the 11th day of the 11th month being the focal point of the Remembrance
Services.
On the first anniversary of the Armistice in 1919, at
London’s then new Cenotaph, a two minute silence was observed as part of the
main commemorative service. Did you know
that the silence was proposed by Australian journalist Edward Honey, who was
working in Fleet Street.
The Australian and British governments changed the name to
Remembrance Day after the end of the Second World War as Armistice Day was no
longer an appropriate title for a day which would commemorate all war dead.
In 1993 in Australia, on the 75th anniversary of the
armistice, Remembrance Day the remains of an unknown Australian soldier,
exhumed from a First World War Military Cemetery in France, were ceremonially
entombed in the Memorial's Hall of Memory.
Remembrance Day ceremonies were conducted simultaneously in towns and
cities all over the country, culminating at the moment of burial at 11 am and
coinciding with the traditional two minutes' silence. This ceremony, which
touched a chord across the Australian nation, re-established Remembrance Day as
a significant day of commemoration.
In 1997, Governor-General Sir William Deane formally
declared the 11th of November to be Remembrance Day. He urged all Australians to observe one
minute's silence at 11 am on 11 November each year to remember those who died
or suffered for Australia's cause in all wars and armed conflicts.
Poppies are part of the tradition of Remembrance Day and are
becoming part of the ANZAC Day tradition as well.
During the First World War red poppies were among the first
plants to grow in the battlefields of northern France and Belgium. Folklore will tell you that the vivid red of
the poppy is drawn from the blood of those who died, their blood soaking the
ground.
Poppies adorn the panels of the Memorial's Roll of Honour,
placed beside names as a small personal tribute to the memory of a particular
person, or to any of the thousands of individuals commemorated there. This
practice began at the interment of the Unknown Australian Soldier on 11
November 1993. As people waited to lay a
single flower by his tomb in the Hall of Memory, they had to queue along the
cloisters, beside the Roll of Honour. By the end of the day, hundreds of RSL
poppies had been pushed into the cracks between the panels bearing the names of
the fallen.
This scene has been beautifully immortalised in the quilt
made by Lucy Carroll which she is hoping to sell eventually to raise funds for
Soldier On the organisation which inspired the quilt and after which it is
named.
You can see more of Lucy's wonderful work here on her blog and I really suggest you do and you can follow her on Facebook as well here
Whilst I believe very strongly that we should honour our past war heroes, I also believe that we should honour our more recent heroes as well.
Soldier On has the same belief and this Remembrance Day, they want to inspire Australia to take an extra minute - A post on their facebook page encourages us to honour the fallen by supporting the living.
"More than 100 veterans have died from suspected or confirmed suicide, and that doesn't include ex-service members without access to Defence support. We think 2014 is the year to move to stop this. With your support, Soldier On will work harder to stop the loss of these brave men and women."
Can I encourage you to go to their Facebook page here and spread the word, and get Australia taking an extra minute this Remembrance Day. If you are not on Facebook you can also check out their website here.
"More than 100 veterans have died from suspected or confirmed suicide, and that doesn't include ex-service members without access to Defence support. We think 2014 is the year to move to stop this. With your support, Soldier On will work harder to stop the loss of these brave men and women."
Can I encourage you to go to their Facebook page here and spread the word, and get Australia taking an extra minute this Remembrance Day. If you are not on Facebook you can also check out their website here.
In honour of Remembrance Day we will be re-running our Poppy Block BOM tomorrow night for the months of November, December and January.
Till next time........................keep spreading the word and happy stitching!
Jan-Maree xx
We will remember. I have today bought poppy pins, they have darling enamel looking ones for $1 so I have bought a total of 20 from 4 different places. I have already in my daily encounter with friends given away 5 pins and to the people who checked my eyes at the optometrist given away another 3. I have told the story of Aussie Heroes too while I was at it. Always spreading the word.
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