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Remembrance Day http://www.onlymelbourne.com.au/melbourne_details.php?id=3615 Thursday 11 November 2010 | The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month commemorating the end of the Great War 1918. Originally called Armistice Day, this day commemorated the end of the hostilities for the Great War, the signing of the armistice, which occurred on 11 November 1918 - the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Armistice Day was observed by the Allies as a way of remembering those who died, especially soldiers with 'no known grave'. "In Victoria Street a group of Australian 'boys' accompanied by a band and their girls decorated in red, white and blue, were swinging down towards Whitehall to the huge delight of all spectators... In Whitehall we got blocked, but what did it matter? We danced on the buses, we danced on the lorries, we danced on the pavement, we shouted, we sang... the office boys and girls at the War Office yelled to their companions across the way; we cheered and cheered again and again, while the Church bells rang out a peal of jubilation..." (Source: Sir Evelyn Wrench, 'Struggle', 1914-1918 in They Saw it Happen 1897-1940, compiled by Asa Briggs.) It's no wonder Australian soldiers were dancing in the streets. Armistice Day marked the end of the bloodiest war the world had seen. Although Australia became a nation in 1901 its loyalties still lay with Britain and so the Australian government had committed itself to supporting the British war effort and Australian men volunteered to fight and die on the battlefields of Europe, Turkey and the Middle East. Of the Australian population of 5 million, 300,000 young men went to the Great War. Of those 60,000 died and 156,000 were wounded or taken prisoner. [ 本帖最后由 LONELYMELBOURNE 于 2010-11-11 12:56 编辑 ] |
