Hi Team
This yearonce again Armistice Day has been commemorated in New Zealand and Australiawith services and gatherings at memorials across our nations. As well as inBritain and across the Commonwealth this day will continue for many years rememberingour ancestors who fought and died during WW1. This day is known as RemembranceDay in Britain and Australia and I have included some information about how andwhy Armistice Day is one and the same
Regards
Peter Hogg
RNZNA South Canterbury N.Z.

"peterhogg222@gmail.com"



THISMONTH IN HISTORY
11 November 1918 Afterfour terrible years, the First World War finally comes to a close with thesigning of an armistice between Germany and the Allied Powers on 11 November1918.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the11th month, the guns famously fell silent. New Zealandersand Australians celebrated enthusiastically, despite having recently celebratedthe surrenders of the three other Central Powers – Bulgaria, Turkey andAustria-Hungary – and the premature news of an armistice with Germany.

The celebrations for the various armistices had similarities with eachother, with those held overseas, and with other celebrations in the past ornear future. Bells rang, bunting went up, songs were sung andspeeches made. More organised celebrations came later in the day orover the following days. Most people anticipated the armistice withGermany and made plans in advance.

Variations in the celebrations reflected the perceived importance of thevarious surrenders, the depth and spread of the influenza pandemic, and theforethought given to the preparations. The limited amount of advance warningand the disruption caused by the influenza pandemic contributed to theenthusiasm with which New Zealand’s official peace celebrations in July 1919were embraced.

History ofArmistice Day New Zealand
At 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918, the Armistice marked the moment whenhostilities ceased on the Western Front. The "eleventh hour of theeleventh day of the eleventh month" thereafter became universallyassociated with the remembrance of those who had died in the First World War.
1919: Introduction of the Silent Tribute

On the first anniversary of the Armistice, 11 November 1919, two minutessilence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony in Whitehall,London. King George V had personally requested all the people of the BritishEmpire to suspend normal activities for two minutes on the hour of theArmistice. Two minutes' silence was popularly adopted and it became a centralfeature of commemorations on Armistice Day.
1920: Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

On the second anniversary of the Armistice, 11 November 1920, thecommemoration was given added significance with the return of the remains of anunknown soldier from the battlefields of the Western Front. Unknown soldierswere interred with full military honours in Westminster Abbey in London and atthe Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in WestminsterAbbey attracted over one million people within a week to pay their respects.Most other allied nations adopted the tradition of entombing unknown soldiersin their capitals over the following decade: Washington, Rome and Brussels in1921, Prague and Belgrade in 1922, and later Warsaw and Athens. However, theNew Zealand government rejected a proposal in 1921 for New Zealand to have itsown Unknown Warrior on the grounds that the Unknown Warrior in WestminsterAbbey represented New Zealand's war dead. During the 1940s and 1950s the NZRSArenewed the call for New Zealand to have its own Unknown Warrior or evenUnknown Warriors, one to represent each World War, without success.
1919-45: Armistice Day in New Zealand

While eventually overshadowed by Anzac Day, it was marked solemnly inNew Zealand with the traditional two minutes' silence at 11 am, whenpedestrians and traffic stopping in the streets to observe the silence. Theobservance of two commemorative days symbolised New Zealanders' emerging senseof national identity, albeit within the wider context of the empire. ArmisticeDay was shared with the empire; Anzac Day belonged to New Zealand (andAustralia).
1925: First Rose Day

First Rose Dayin Wellington, Alexander Turnbull Library
In 1925, Wellington RSA instituted the inaugural Rose Day which raisedfunds for the Wellington Citizens' Memorial. In later years many RSAs heldtheir own Rose Days in order to raise funds for many community as well as RSAprojects (and in contrast to the Poppy Day Appeal that was solely for thewelfare of returned service personnel and dependants in need). By 1944, theDominion Council of the NZRSA was encouraging the holding of Rose Day on anationwide basis on the Friday before Armistice Day.
1946: Introduction of Remembrance Day

After the Second World War, the British and her Dominions, including NewZealand, agreed to change the name and date of Armistice Day to RemembranceDay, now to be observed on the Sunday prior to 11 November (it was latertransferred to the second Sunday in November). Armistice Day was no longerviewed as an appropriate title for a day which would commemorate the war deadof both World Wars. In short, Remembrance Day "Sundayised" theobservance of Armistice Day. For the first observance of Remembrance Day in1946, New Zealanders were requested to attend traditional remembrance servicesand to observe two minutes' silence at 11 a.m., when citizens and vehicles wereto halt in the streets. On the whole, Remembrance Day was observed in thismanner during the late 1940s.
By the mid 1950s, however, the public gradually lost interest incommemorating Remembrance Day despite the best efforts of the RSA, including anunsuccessful approach to government to revert back to an observance on 11November. The RSA believed that the decline of Remembrance Day was a result ofits "Sundayisation" and the loss of the association with the eleventhhour of the 11 November.
Armistice Day again

Since the 1990s the United Kingdom and many countries of theCommonwealth have increasingly returned to commemorate Armistice Day 11November because the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventhmonth" has so much significance. In 1995, for example, the Royal BritishLegion embarked on a campaign for the reintroduction of two minutes' silence on11 November at 11 a.m., which steadily gained momentum to the point where todayit is estimated that three-quarters of the population of the United Kingdomparticipate in the observance. In Australia, meanwhile, the interment of anUnknown Soldier at the Australian War Memorial on 11 November 1993 broughtrenewed attention to the day and in 1997 Australia's Governor-General issued aproclamation formally declaring 11 November Remembrance Day and urging all Australiansto observe one minute's silence at 11 am on 11 November each year.
In New Zealand too, since the 75th Anniversary of the Armistice in 1993was commemorated throughout the country, the RSA has promoted the observance of11 a.m. on Armistice Day with remembrance services at the National War Memorialin Wellington and at local war memorials throughout the country.
In recent years Armistice Day has also been used for signficant nationalwar remembrance projects. On Armistice Day 2004 the Unknown Warrior wasinterred at the National War Memorial following a Memorial Service at theWellington Cathedral of St Paul and a Military Funeral Procession watched by anestimated 100,000 people. Two years later, on Armistice Day 2006, the NewZealand Memorial at Hyde Park Corner in London was dedicated by HM QueenElizabeth II.
Source: RNZRSA Historian Dr Stephen Clarke


100 crosses in the Fieldof Remembrance to mark the Armistice Day ceremony in Paraparaumu, New Zealand.Photo / Mark Mitchell, NZ Herald
A field of 100 woodencrosses were unveiled to mark the anniversary of the end of World War I.
Memorial services forArmistice Day - which marks the end of the "war to end all wars" withthe signing of the Armistice at 11am on November 11, 1918 - were heldthroughout the country today.
Remembrance Day:Australians pause to commemorate lives lost in war and conflict

Updated 32minutes ago
PHOTO: Director of the Australian War Memorial, Dr BrendanNelson, walks alongside Prince Charles and Camilla at the Australian WarMemorial. (AAP: DeanLewins)


Around the country today Australians aregathering to honour the memory of those who have died or suffered in wars andarmed conflicts.

ThisRemembrance Day Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, who are currently on theirnational tour of Australia, areattending the ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
The National Ceremony willinclude a formal wreath-laying and students from each state and territory willbe present, representing the youth of Australia.
This year's event focuses onthe sacrifice of Indigenous soldiers, with Indigenous author and historianJackie Huggins giving the commemorative address — the first Indigenous personto ever give an address at the ceremony.
"Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander veterans were often denied the honour and rights given to otherveterans such as soldier settlement land grants," Ms Huggins said.
"Many were refusedmembership, even entrance to RSL clubs.
"My father andgrandfather, along with many Indigenous men and women served our nation in war.
"Their abiding loyalty tothis country we all call home rows above the deep bitterness of the past."
There will be a special namingof a gallery at the war memorial after Captain Reg Saunders who was the firstAboriginal person commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army.
In Adelaide, the ReturnedServices League (RSL) is trying to recreate a time when almost everyone came toa halt for one minute by placing buglers around the city to play the Last Post.
Veteranssupport group Soldier On is asking Australians to not only pause for a moment'ssilence today, but also takea minute to reach out to a mate.