Lest We Forget.........

[jerryd]

A minutes silence at 11.00 am to reflect on what they gave for us.

[p38arover]

Thanks Jerry. I hadn't realised it was the 11th.

Some pics I took on Anzac Day a few years back.

[Redback]

Excellent comment Jerry, by someone that went through the horror.

[V8Ian]

We shall remember them.

[VladTepes]

The Ode of Remembrance

The Ode used is the fourth stanza of the poem For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon and was written in the early days of World War One.



By mid September 1914, less than seven weeks after the outbreak of war, the British Expeditionary Force in France had already suffered severe casualties. Long lists of the dead and wounded appeared in British newspapers. It was against this background that Binyon wrote For the Fallen.



The poem was first published in The Times on 21 September 1914

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children
England mourns for her dead across the sea,
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.


Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And glory that shines upon our tears.


They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow,
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.


They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.


They mingle not with their laughing comrades again,
They sit no more at familiar tables of home,
They have no lot in our labour of the daytime,
They sleep beyond England's foam.


But where our desires and hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the night.


As the stars shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.



Remembrance Day

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, having inflicted heavy defeats upon them over the preceding four months. In November the Germans called for an armistice (suspension of fighting) in order to secure a peace settlement. They accepted the allied terms of unconditional surrender.
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month attained a special significance in the post-war years. The moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front became universally associated with the remembrance of those who had died in the war. This first modern world conflict had brought about the mobilisation of over 70 million people and left between 9 and 13 million dead, perhaps as many as one-third of them with no known grave. The allied nations chose this day and time for the commemoration of their war dead.

On the first anniversary of the armistice, 11 November 1919, the two minutes? silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony at the new Cenotaph in London. The silence was proposed by an Australian journalist working in Fleet Street, Edward Honey. At about the same time, a South African statesman made a similar proposal to the British Cabinet, which endorsed it. King George V personally requested all the people of the British Empire to suspend normal activities for two minutes on the hour of the armistice "which stayed the world wide carnage of the four preceding years and marked the victory of Right and Freedom." The two minutes? silence was popularly adopted and it became a central feature of commemorations on Armistice Day.



On the second anniversary of the armistice, 11 November 1920, the commemoration was given added significance when it became a funeral, with the return of the remains of an Unknown Soldier from the battlefields of the Western Front. Unknown soldiers were interred with full military honours in Westminster Abbey in London and at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The entombment in London attracted over one million people within a week to pay their respects at the Unknown Soldier's tomb. Most other allied nations adopted the tradition of entombing unknown soldiers over the following decade.



In Australia on the 75th anniversary of the armistice, 11 November 1993, Remembrance Day ceremonies again became the focus of national attention. On that day the remains of an unknown Australian soldier, exhumed from a First World War military cemetery in France, were ceremonially entombed in the Australian War Memorial. 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.



Four years later, in November 1997, the Governor-General, Sir William Deane, issued a proclamation formally declaring 11 November Remembrance Day and urging 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.

[Ausfree]

I didn't go to any service, but I did spare a moment at 11am to remember. We owe a lot to those brave soldiers, sailors and airmen/women.

[KarlB]

The "Lest we forget" that usually follows the fourth stanza of Binyon's For the Fallen is from Kipling's poem Recessional which has little or nothing to do with War, but rather a celebration of Queen Victoria! Here tis in full:

God of our fathers, known of old?
Lord of our far-flung battle line?
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine?
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget?lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies?
The Captains and the Kings depart?
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget?lest we forget!

Far-called our navies melt away?
On dune and headland sinks the fire?
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget?lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe?
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law?
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget?lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard?
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding calls not Thee to guard.
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord!
Amen.

Indeed Amen ... and lest we forget.

Cheers
KarlB

[4range]

I am pleased to say that we commemorate every year with an announcement on the PA.

I say the 'Ode' on the PA & silently dedicate it selfishly to my great Uncles, my grandfather & great grandfathers & my Dad, all recently passed & all served in either Navy, Army or Airforce.

Heroes, every one of them!

No more so than all the others I dont know, past & present.

Lest we forget.

[DiscoMick]

Had a little session with a class of former refugee students from Burma when we discussed the meaning of Remembrance Day. I got them to search for the answers to questions about what it is and why its important. Then we read In Flanders Field and discussed why poppies are associated with it. Finished with a minutes' silence.
When your family was driven out of a country by conflict, and you have arrived in a safe country, you appreciate the sacrifices made to secure freedom, I think. They certainly took it seriously.


We were in London on the 11th two years ago and joined the ceremony near Hyde Park. Very moving it was.


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.

John McCrae

[Brett1066]

I am pleased to say that we commemorate every year with an announcement on the PA.

Wish we did something similar here. Out of the four different business units we have on site, which is about 100 people, I am the only one wearing a poppy today. Most people didn't even bother to stop work at 11 to observe the minutes silence.
Disgraceful in my humble opinion.