Remembrance Day Day 18

With Colleen in the hospital, I spent Remembrance Day in Australia.  In Canada Remembrance Day is a public holiday and is dedicated to Canadians who died as a result of war. In Australia the Day is also dedicated to Australians who died as a result of war, particularly from World War I onwards. I was not surprised at the differences between Canada and Australia as my daughter and her friends put more focus on the celebration of Anzac Day in April. as this is their public holiday. 

Australians stop what they are doing at exactly 11 am in their local times on November 11 each year to dedicate a minute of silence for those who died in war, especially soldiers from as far back as World War I. Those who join in this act of remembrance include teachers, students, politicians, and workers of public and private sector enterprises.

A minute of silence is dedicated to the deceased, especially for soldiers who died fighting to protect the nation. Many people wear artificial poppies on the day and key political figures make speeches in remembrance of the nation’s fallen heroes. Services are held at 11 am at war memorials in suburbs and towns across the country, at which the “Last Post” is played by a bugler and a one-minute silence is observed. In Australia, Remembrance Day has been partly eclipsed by ANZAC Day as the national day of war commemoration.

Many ceremonies, parades and other activities are held on ANZAC Day to remember the lives of those who participated or died in military action, particularly on the Gallipoli Peninsula in World War I. Dawn prayer or church services are a particularly important aspect of ANZAC Day. These represent the comradeship that the soldiers experienced as they rose each morning to prepare for another day of military action. After the services, gunfire breakfast (coffee with rum in it) is often served.

In major cities and many smaller towns, parades, marches and reunions of current and past military personnel and memorial services are held. The fourth stanza or verse of a well known poem, known as The Ode, is read aloud at many ceremonies. The poem is called "For The Fallen" and was written by Laurence Binyon in 1914. It commemorates those who died and can never grow old. For those who don't know the poem, here it is:

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 a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, 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 day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our 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 that 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.

Anzac Day (April 25),  is not celebrated in Canada, but it is an important day for Australians to remember so here is some background for those back home about ANZAC Day

In the early months of 1915, World War I was raging in most of Europe, including the Ottoman empire in the geographical area that is now Turkey. Russian troops were fighting on many fronts, particularly against troops from Germany and the Ottoman and Austro -Hungarian empires. At dawn on April 25, 1915, forces from France, Great Britain and the British Empire, including Australia and New Zealand, landed at a number of places on the Gallipoli peninsula. The campaign aimed to open up new fronts for the Allied forces and a trade route to Russia.

In the ensuing battle, many lives were lost on both sides and the Allied forces did not succeed in opening a trade route to Russia. The last ANZAC forces withdrew from the Gallipoli Peninsula by December 20, 1915, in a successful operation with very few casualties. In spite of their losses, the ANZAC servicemen and many Australians and New Zealanders saw this battle as the start of the ANZAC spirit. This is an Australasian ideal based on the "mateship" and cheerful suffering the forces showed during this campaign

ANZAC Day is a public holiday and day of remembrance in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tonga. It is also commemorated with special services and events on or around April 25 in a range of countries across the globe. These include: the United Kingdom, France, Turkey, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Canada and the United States (including Hawaii).