Richmond Rsl Sub-Branch : Commemoration Of Remembrance Day 2023
10.45am for 10.55am start
LEST WE FORGET . REMEMBRAN
Richmond Rsl Sub-Branch : Commemoration Of Remembrance Day 2023
Richmond RSL Sub-branch will commemorate Remembrance Day with a service and wreathlaying ceremony at the Richmond War Memorial in Richmond Park , corner of East Market and March Streets Richmond , from 10.55am on Saturday 11th November 2023 . Community members are most welcome to participate in this solemn occasion , and are requested to assemble adjacent to the war memorial by 10.40am .
Richmond RSL Sub-branch appreciates that this observance takes place on a weekend , and encourages the local community and its school children to take the time to reflect on the service of the District ’ s veterans and serving military personnel , and to appreciate the Peace they have safeguarded through their service and sacrifice . Community leaders and representatives from Legacy , War Widows , Torchbears , RAAF Richmond , National Servicemen ’ s Association , the Richmond Club and local schools will also commemorate the service of current and former military personnel , and lay wreaths in their honour . The Sub-branch ’ s members will also invite community members to lay their private wreaths on the war memorial .
Richmond RSL Sub-branch will again provide covered seating for the Community ’ s veterans and other older community members .
For further additional information , please contact the Richmond RSL Sub-branch Honorary Secretary , Gillian Fletcher , on 0438 782 419 .
At 11 am on 11 November 1918 the guns on the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare . The allied armies had driven the German invaders back , having inflicted heavy defeats upon them over the preceding four months . In November the Germans called for an armistice ( suspension of fighting ) in order to secure a peace settlement . They accepted allied terms that amounted to unconditional surrender .
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month attained a special significance in the post-war years . The moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front became universally associated with the remembrance
Armistice at the Cenotaph , Martin Place , Sydney , 1934 / photograph by Sam Hood [ State Library of New South Wales ]
of those who had died in the war . This first modern world conflict had brought about the mobilisation of over 70 million people and left between 9 and 13 million dead , perhaps as many as one-third of them with no known grave . The allied nations chose this day and time for the commemoration of their war dead .
On the first anniversary of the armistice in 1919 two minutes ’ silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony at the new Cenotaph in London . The silence was proposed by Australian journalist Edward Honey , who was working in Fleet Street . At about the same time , a South African statesman made a similar proposal to the British Cabinet , which endorsed it . King George V personally requested all the people of the British Empire to suspend normal activities for two minutes on the hour of the armistice “ which stayed the worldwide carnage of the four preceding years and marked the victory of Right and Freedom ”. The two minutes ’ silence was popularly adopted and it became a central feature of commemorations on Armistice Day .
On the second anniversary of the armistice in 1920 the commemoration was given added significance when it became a funeral , with the return of the remains of an unknown soldier from the battlefields of the Western
A group of women and children rejoicing in a street in Sydney at the signing of the Armistice , 11 November 1918 . [ Australian War Memorial ]
Remembrance Day Service
Saturday 11 November 2023
Richmond War Memorial
10.45am for 10.55am start
All members of the public are invited to attend the
Richmond RSL Sub-Branch Commemorative Service .
Lest We Forget
26 ISSUE 162 // NOVEMBER 2023 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT