Defence

Feature

Pausing to remember

At 11am on the 11^th day of the 11^th month, Australians across the nation paused to reflect on the sacrifices made by Servicemen and women of years gone by, selfless Australians whose courage remains prevalent today and forms the basis of the Defence values system by which we adhere to every day.

The high operational tempo currently dictating Defence's direction as we delve deeper into the 21st Century has, arguably, made Remembrance Day even more poignant as we reflect on recent tragedies that have struck the very core of this wide and dynamic organisation.

Why the 11^th hour, 11^th day, 11^th month?

At 5am on 11 November 1918, three German government representatives accepted the armistice terms presented to them by an allied commander, General Foch of the French Army - with this, World War I, a war that stole the lives of 61 919 young Australians, ended. At 11am the same day, guns fell silent on the Western Front and four years of catastrophic fighting ended.

Supporting troops of the 1^st AIR walking on a duckboard track near Hooge, in the Ypres Sector on the Western Front. They are heading towards the front line to relieve their comrades, whose attack the day before won Broodseinde Ridge and deepened the Australian advance. AWM: E00833.

The demands of the armistice included the withdrawal of German forces to the east bank of the Rhine within 30 days; immediate cessation of warfare; and, surrender of the German fleet and all heavy guns, with no further negotiations until the signing of the peace treaty the following year, the Treaty of Versailles.

More than 416 000 Australians volunteered for service in World War I - of these, over 45 000 died on the battlefields of France and Belgium and over 8000 were killed on the Gallipoli Peninsula, where the Anzac legend came to life and Australia's baptism of fire undoubtedly served as the catalyst to modern Defence values - professionalism, loyalty, integrity, courage, innovation and teamwork.

In Australia and other allied countries, 11 November became known as Armistice Day; however, following World War II, the Australian Government agreed to the United Kingdom's proposal that Armistice Day be renamed Remembrance Day, in order to commemorate those who were killed in both horrific wars. Now, the loss of Australian lives from all wars and conflicts is commemorated on 11 November.

Significance of the one minute silence

A Melbourne-based journalist, Edward George Honey, first proposed a period of silence for national remembrance in a letter published in the London Evening News on 8 May 1919.

This suggestion caught the attention of King George V and the King issued a proclamation on 7 November 1919 that called for a two minute silence. His proclamation requested that "all locomotion should cease, so that, in perfect stillness, the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead".

At 11am on 11 November 1919, Australians paused and stood still in silent tribute to the men and women of the Australian Imperial Force who died on the battlefields of the Middle East, Gallipoli and Europe.

In 1997 the then-Governor-General issued a Proclamation urging all Australians to observe the one minute silence on Remembrance Day. However, it is still appropriate for two minutes silence to be observed.

25-Pounder guns of B Troop, 14^th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, being pulled through dense jungle in the vicinity of Uberi on the Kokoda Trail. Members of the Regiment are being assisted by the 2/1^st Australian Pioneer Battalion. AWM: 026855

Tradition of wearing Poppies

In 1915, Major John McCrae, brigade-surgeon, First Brigade Canadian Forces Artillery, was working in a dressing station on the front line to the north of Ieper, Belgium, when he wrote 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.

In 1918 Moira Michael, and American, wrote a poem in rely, We shall keep the faith, in which she promised to wear a poppy 'in honour of our dead' and so began the tradition of wearing a poppy in remembrance.

It was French YMCA Secretary, Madame Guerin, who in 1918 conceived the idea of selling silk poppies to help needy soldiers. Poppies were first sold in England on Armistice Day in 1921 by members of the British Legion to raise money for those who had been incapacitated by the war. The practice began in Australia the same year and now, in the lead up to 11 November each year, the Returned & Services League of Australia sells red poppies for Australians to pin on their lapels, with proceeds helping the organisation undertake welfare work.

We Will Remember Them

19 August 1966. MAJ Harry Smith of Brisbane (extreme left), Officer Commanding Delta Company, 6^th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, holds a briefing in the field shortly before his company returned to Long Tan, the scene of their epic lone stand against a crack North Vietnam Battalion. AWM: FOR/66/0676/VN.

According to the Department of Veterans' Affairs, approximately 35 per cent of Australia's war dead from World War I and World War II have no known graves - figuratively speaking, that is 35 527 young Australians who have never returned home.

The names of 18 000 men of the Australian Imperial Force with 'no known grave' appear on memorials along the Western Front, as well as many other Australians who died serving our country in World War I.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is one of the most well known monuments at the Australian War Memorial. In 1993, to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the 1918 armistice, the Australian Government exhumed the remains of an unknown Australian soldier from the Western Front for entombment at the War Memorial's Hall of Memory. The Unknown Soldier's remains were exhumed from the Adelaide Cemetery, near Villers Bretonneux and a State Funeral was held on 11 November 1993 - Remembrance Day.

As the Unknown Soldier's coffin was placed on the Stone of Remembrance outside the War Memorial, the then-Prime Minister, Paul Keating, delivered an emotive eulogy:

...We will never know who this Australian was. Yet he has always been among those we have honoured. We know that he was one of the 45 000 Australians who died on the Western Front, one of the 416 000 Australians who volunteered for service in World War I.... and one of the 100 000 Australians who have died in wars this century. He is all of them. And he is one of us.

Movingly, as the Unknown Soldier was laid to rest in the Hall of Memory, World War I veteran, Robert Comb, who had served in battles on the Western Front, sprinkled soil from Pozieres over the coffin and said, "Now you're home, mate."

Compiled by Alisha Welch, Editor, Defence magazine and Sophie Rutzou, Project Officer, Corporate Governance and Renewal Branch. Information provided by the Department of Veterans' Affairs

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