100th Anniversary of Armistice Day ( Rememberance Day)

JayDee · Guru

100th Anniversary of Armistice Day ( Rememberance Day)

Goldfinger · Senior Member

Agreed Jay & Dee....Australian Country Towns are actively going about their recognition/support of 100th Ann....last Sunday I attended Berri S.A. Senior Cits/Berri RSL combined concert

with Riverland Male and Women Choirs singing all the WW1 & WW2 popular songs of the day. White Cliffs of Dover...Madamoiselle from A etc etc including some humorous contemporary

Wartime Ditties..e.g. "Nursy Nursy, hold my hand, I'm getting Wursy". the local High School Bands played their hearts out and also provided single choir singers....my point being

everyone was 100% involved ,young and old, plus substantial audience...followed by home made Anzac Biscuits Teas and Coffees etc. etc...it was a real hoot...ending with everyone

linked arms/hands in stirring Auld Lang Syne.as they used to do..

This Saturday I'm attending RSL Renmark S.A. 100 year Anniv. recognition dinner etc ..followed of course on Sunday 11th.Nov..

The genuine Australian Spirit is alive/active in the Country Towns.....with young and old supporting/recognition....may it always be.....

Lest We Forget.

Hoo Roo

JayDee · Guru

Yes

We are absolutely amased as to how the small and large communities, especially the small one have a war memorial in the centre place of their town.

Great example of community awareness.

The two days in our calender that weshould neverforget.ANZAC DAY & ARMISTICE DAY

Gotta love Australia.

Jay&Dee

The Belmont Bear · Guru

In 2004 my wife and I were driving around the French countryside near Amiens when we came across a little village called Villiers Bretonnaux. This was long before people here became familiar with the name due to the broadcast of the Anzac dawn services from the nearby WW1 Australian War Memorial. We were surprised to see a village in the middle of nowhere where the streets had Australian names,where there were kangaroo signs and a small Australian war Cemetary etc. We parked the car in a small park beside the town hall to discuss where we would head to next when an old guy approached and asked if we were Australian. When we said yes he shook our hands and introduced himself as the village mayor. He asked if we would like to see the Australian museum at the Victoria school just down the road. We had never heard of it but said yes that would be great, he immediately crossed the road and got one of the local shop owners to close up his shop and go and open the museum for us. When we got to the school we were introduced to a class of small children and their teacher as Australians and they stood and applauded us. Through the window we could see a large sign around their quadrangle saying we will never forget Australia. The whole top floor of that school is now a museum which only contains Australian exhibits from WW1. Regardless of whether people in Australia fully appreciate the sacrifices our diggers made in WW1 (which I sure they do) the locals certainly remember at least on that part of the western front. The reason it was called the Victoria school was because when they showed the destruction of the village on newsreels back here the people of Victoria including the school kids organised a collection and sent them enough money to rebuild their school. That was a very humbling experience for us, not only will we never forget it but our appreciation of just what those diggers achieved in just one of the many theatres of war that they fought in really did hit home.

Lest We Forget
BB

-- Edited by The Belmont Bear on Saturday 10th of November 2018 11:49:12 AM

Goldfinger · Senior Member

My Uncle Reginald William Hartigan was killed near Villers Brettonneux /Amiens on 19/8/1918 in the last 'Big Push'..Gunner , 2nd Brigade Australian Field Artillery....he had just turned 20

years...my brother, representing our family, was fortunate to stand at his gravesite in Daours Cemetery on 19/8/2018..exactly 100 years since his KIA......2 brothers, my Grandfather and his

brother Reg, went over together, checked on each other after each battle....and only my Grandfather returned....long journey home.....my Grandfather died young of his Mustard Gas

Poisoning..many other young Australians in Daours Cemetery and elsewhere paid the ultimate sacrifice in that last Big PUsh which turned the tide of the War leading to Armistice only two

months later.....he nearly made it....LEST WE FORGET......Hoo Roo

-- Edited by Goldfinger on Saturday 10th of November 2018 12:19:46 PM

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

The wild poppies were in bloom at the Lone Pine cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey when we visited in 2013.

Lest We Forget.

Peter

EJP · Senior Member

I have visited Gallipoli twice. In 2008 with my son and in 2010 with my wife and on both occasions it was a very humbling and emotional experience. On the second visit we were there 2 weeks prior to Anzac Day and they were setting up for the ceremonies and found the locals to be very welcoming and friendly. What I didn't realise was that the Gallipoli Campain is of great signifigance to the Turkish people as well, but for different reasons. They repelled an invading force at enormous cost to themselves. The number of busloads of Turkish school children visiting various sites was surprising, particually at the Turkish war cemetery

EJP · Senior Member

I forgot to label the photos in my post. 1 Simpsons Grave, 2 Lone Pine Cemetery, 3 Kemal Ataturk Inscription, 4 Turkish War Cemetery. Appologies

EJP

Blues Man · Guru

LEST WE FORGET.

Tony Bev · Guru

Lest we forget

The eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month

My grandfather, on my fathers side, was gassed in what he would have known as the "Great War"
He sadly, like many others, died of his injuries