In Australia there is a minutes silence nearly everywhere. Most schools observe. Even the big multi national grocery outlets advise the time and ask for a minutes silence.
Geoff, It will be the same in Canada. I will post some pics of the ceremony to be held at Sunnybrook Hospital, Veterans Wing. Randy
Shall we all post pics of where we were this year at 11am on 11th Nov ? Might be interesting to see what we all doing. I expect mine pic will be of my TV though.
Shall we all post pics of where we were this year at 11am on 11th Nov ? Might be interesting to see what we all doing. I expect mine pic will be of my TV though. Mine might be leaving home if my 18yo doesn't pass her driving test! I suppose it doesn't matter where you remember, as long as you do!
It would seem that the one minute silence on the eleventh has become more widely observed in England again in recent years, of course we couldn't have the centres of our towns and cities disrupted by parades etc. on a weekday (?) so the main acts of remembrance have moved to a Sunday (when did that happen?) My late Grandfather told me that, between the wars, traffic stopped - pull into the side of the road, get out and stand for the minute - in those days there would be much less traffic and it would be travelling much slower; it would be impossible on todays multi-lane motorways/highways. Noel
Answering my own question - In the UK, the official commemoration was moved to the Sunday closest to 11th November in 1939, to avoid any disruption to production in factories supporting the war effort. This Sunday observance has remained since, though the 11th may also be marked with a moment of silence at 11am And from Wikipedia a newspaper quote about the first remembrace day in London 11/11/19 The first stroke of eleven produced a magical effect. The tram cars glided into stillness, motors ceased to cough and fume, and stopped dead, and the mighty-limbed dray horses hunched back upon their loads and stopped also, seeming to do it of their own volition. Someone took off his hat, and with a nervous hesitancy the rest of the men bowed their heads also. Here and there an old soldier could be detected slipping unconsciously into the posture of 'attention'. An elderly woman, not far away, wiped her eyes, and the man beside her looked white and stern. Everyone stood very still ... The hush deepened. It had spread over the whole city and become so pronounced as to impress one with a sense of audibility. It was a silence which was almost pain ... And the spirit of memory brooded over it all
Shall we all post pics of where we were this year at 11am on 11th Nov ? Might be interesting to see what we all doing. I expect mine pic will be of my TV though. Good idea. I'll be down in the village. I'm meant to be helping my daughter with catering for the veterans association. She owns a restaurant with her boyfriend, and they have a traiteur service too, so they're often booked for stuff like this and the 8th May celebration/commemoration.
Two minutes silence From a young child the eleventh of November has always been etched in my memory as a most important time in my life at three years old my mother was holding my hand walking me to a local shop in Stepney the east end of London the year 1927 when the guns in the Tower of London went off it was of course Armistice day everybody stopped mostly horse traffic men taking off cloth caps and an eerie silence descended like a blanket everywhere except the chains of the horses harness as the animals stood still but shook their heads I looked up to ask my mother why men were crying but noticed she had tears rolling down her face so the question never came after all with hindsight it was only nine years after the end of ww1 ironically I found out why men cry including myself serving with the 78 Infantry division in N Africa Sicily and Italy Regards Niccar
I was glad to see the call centre where I work take the time out to stop the calls coming through at 11am today. They're usually so over concerned about their service levels that to make a point of observing a 2 min silence is nice to know they're not so caught up in all that corporate bollox. Although I wasn't there for it. I was cycling in on my way there at the time. -_-
I was at home thinking of Sapper Luke Allsopp as I do most days. Sapper Luke Allsopp and SSgt Simon Cullingworth Executed in Al-Zubayer by Iraqi's March 2003. RIP
[FONT="]Diggers separated by time, united in reflection [/FONT] [FONT="]Brendan Nicholson and Dennis Shanahan [/FONT] [FONT="]From: The Australian [/FONT] [FONT="]November 12, 2010 12:00AM [/FONT] [FONT="]FAMILIES and friends of 10 Australian soldiers who died in Afghanistan marked Remembrance Day at the war memorial in Canberra. [/FONT][FONT="][/FONT] [FONT="]In Seoul, Julia Gillard joined 82-year-old Korean War veteran Jack Jaggers, who was making his first trip to Korea since the war, to honour the service of the more than 17,000 Australians who fought for democracy in the Asian nation.[/FONT] [FONT="]At the Australian War Memorial, young men just back from Afghanistan, in civilian suits hung with medals, some in wheelchairs or supported by mates, gathered beneath a new bronze plate to reach up and touch the names of comrades killed by bombs and bullets. Several turned away, choked up with sadness.[/FONT] [FONT="]The names were decked with red poppies placed by loved ones at a private ceremony before the annual commemoration marking the end of World War I.[/FONT] [FONT="]The 10 men killed between June and August represented the Australian Defence Force's worst wartime toll since Vietnam.[/FONT] [FONT="]Twenty-one Australian soldiers have died in Afghanistan since February 2002 and 160 have been wounded.[/FONT] [FONT="]More than half of those killed were special forces soldiers from the SAS, the commandos and the Incident Response Regiment. Others were infantrymen, cavalry or engineers trained to deal with the Taliban's improvised bombs.[/FONT] [FONT="]Governor-General Quentin Bryce said those who had died were fine young men who lived on in the faces and hearts, photographs, diaries and dreams of their loved ones.[/FONT] [FONT="]As Ms Bryce examined the new names, she said she had met combat engineers Jacob Moerland and Darren Smith in Afghanistan in April and they had showed her their protective gear. The men were killed by a bomb weeks later.[/FONT] [FONT="]In Seoul, Mr Jaggers sat in the VIP section behind the designated seats for the Prime Minister, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.[/FONT] [FONT="]After seeing a story in Brisbane's Sunday Mail about veterans returning to South Korea, the 82-year-old from Buderim in Queensland decided to take part.[/FONT] [FONT="]For Mr Jaggers, the "extraordinary" difference he saw in South Korea after 60 years made it worthwhile.[/FONT] [FONT="]He compared wartime Seoul with the democratic, modern capital of South Korea, the host of the first G20 meeting outside the old powers of the G8.[/FONT] [FONT="]"It makes me very proud to see it and it makes me feel honoured," he said.[/FONT] [FONT="]Later Ms Gillard said: "I've had the opportunity to lay a wreath here in Korea, accompanied by a Korean War veteran, Jack. We've had an opportunity to mark Remembrance Day and particularly to honour the service of the more than 17,000 Australians who fought for democracy here in Korea.[/FONT] [FONT="]"We lost 340 - 281 of our Korean War dead are buried in Korea.[/FONT] [FONT="]"It's been a very special way of marking Remembrance Day and to each of the veterans who has made the journey and joined us today, I say a big thank you . . . for sharing an insight into their lives and an insight into their war stories."[/FONT]
