4. Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day (Armistice Day)-Origins

Saluting their Service - Grahame Old

Armistice Day – WW1

At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years continuous warfare. The allied armies had driven the German invaders back inflicting heavy defeats upon them. In November the Germans called for an armistice (suspension of fighting) in order to secure a peace settlement which resulted in their unconditional surrender.

Post War, the Allied nations of the conflict jointly decided to commemorate the sacrifice of all who had given their lives during the war, with a commemoration service every year, to mark ‘Armistice Day’. Those attending the Service would observe One Minute Silence at the 11th Hour, of the 11th Day, of the 11th Month, as a mark of respect and contemplation to acknowledge the Fallen. On the first anniversary of the armistice in 1919 two minutes silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony in London. The two minutes silence became a central feature of commemorations on Armistice Day.

Remembrance Day - WW2

After the end of WW2, the Australian and British governments changed the name to Remembrance Day. Armistice Day was considered no longer appropriate for a day which would commemorate all war dead.

One Minutes Silence

In Australia in 1997, a proclamation was issued formally declaring 11 November to be Remembrance Day. The proclamation urged all Australians to observe one minute's silence at 11 am on 11 November each year to remember those who died or suffered in all wars and armed conflicts.

Wearing a Poppy in Remembrance

The “Red Poppy” as a symbol of Remembrance, came about after the end of the “Great War”- WW1. In 1915 in the devastated, muddied fields of Belgium and France and on the hills at Gallipoli, spring brought the unexpected sight of beautiful flowers growing across a landscape already sown with the bodies of thousands of dead men. These red poppies left an impression on all who witnessed it - the flowers delivering mixed emotions - the red blood of the fallen yet the regeneration of new life. In the northern hemisphere the field poppy is an annual plant which flowers each year between about May and August. Its seeds are disseminated on the wind and can lie dormant in the ground for a long time. If the ground is disturbed from the early spring the seeds will germinate and the poppy flowers will grow. This is what happened in parts of the front lines in Belgium and France. Once the ground was disturbed by the fighting, the poppy seeds lying in the ground began to germinate and grow during the warm weather in the spring and summer months of the war. The field poppy was also blooming in parts of the Turkish battlefields on the Gallipoli peninsula. Since that time this vivid red flower has become synonymous with great loss of life in war. The poppy and its connection with the memory of those who have died in war has been expanded to help the living too. The Poppy has been promoted as the “Memorial Flower” and as such is used to raise funds to support those in need of help, most especially servicemen and civilians suffering from physical and mental hardship as a result of war.

Inspiration for the Poem “In Flanders Fields”

“In Flanders Fields the Poppies Blow...”

During the early days of the Second Battle of Ypres a young Canadian artillery officer, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, was killed on 2nd May 1915 in the gun positions near Ypres. An exploding German artillery shell landed near him. He was serving in the same Canadian artillery unit as a friend of his, the Canadian military doctor and artillery commander Major John McCrae.

As the brigade doctor, John McCrae was asked to conduct the burial service for Alexis because the chaplain had been called away somewhere else on duty that evening. It is believed that later that evening, after the burial, John began the draft for his now famous poem “In Flanders Fields”. The sight of these delicate, vibrant red flowers growing on the shattered ground caught the attention of John McCrae. He noticed how they had sprung up in the disturbed ground of the burials around the artillery position he was in. The first lines of the poem have become some of the most famous lines written in relation to the First World War.

“In Flanders Fields”

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

The American humanitarian, Moina Michael, greatly moved by the poem: “In Flanders Fields”, suggested the inclusion of the wearing of a Flanders Poppy. She wrote: 'And now the Torch and Poppy Red, we wear in honour of our dead.

She campaigned to make the Poppy an enduring symbol of remembrance of those who had died in the war. Those who wear it today continue that tradition - paying tribute to all the Fallen over every war since, who fought and died for our Freedoms.

The Human Cost of WW1, ‘The War to End all Wars’

The human cost of World War 1 was staggering. More than 12 million soldiers (perhaps as many as one third of these with no known grave) and an estimated 13 million civilians died in the four year conflict. The War also left 21 million military men wounded. Many of them were missing arms, legs, hands, or driven mad by shell shock. In Australia over 500,000 men enlisted for WW1, from a population of around 5 million. Over 350,000 embarked for overseas service, with over 60,000 making the supreme sacrifice. Among those killed were 133 ‘Collie Boys’.