Armistice Day 11-11-18

[vilakins]

11am on 11-11-18: the armistice celebrations at the Oamaru war memorial on a glorious spring day.


Soldiers and poppies outside the town hall


Young high-school-age Air Training Corps cadets were the guard of honour at the memorial.


Scottish band ready to play, and the Victorian church of St Luke's ringing its bells in celebration


Two of the spectators, already in their Victorian costume; the annual Victorian festival starts on Thursday.


Gun salute from the army


... and when I got home, we found a single poppy out on our rock garden! I am stunned. We also had a first poppy bloom on 11 November in 2016. The blue tiles are a garden seat.

This evening we went to see Peter Jackson's film They Shall Never Grow Old which was commissioned by the British Imperial War Museums in association with the BBC. It features 90 minutes of restored and colourised archival footage and a soundtrack created with voice-overs from archival interviews with British WWI veterans recorded in the 60s and 70s.

And man, it was intense.

A veteran told me about it when I was a child, how a shell blew up the man next to him, how he and others drank from a shell-hole for three days until they found a dead German at the bottom, how he was gassed (only slightly compared to others), and he let me feel the pieces of shell in his arm. I was only about 8 but I remember it vividly.

Comments

[gwendraith]

Lovely pictures. Our town has had a march past and commemoration this morning, as they do each year. It's a glorious autumn day here. As always I remember my two uncles with sadness, lost at such a tender age.

Lest we Forget.

[vilakins]

Our major commemorations are on Anzac day, but apparently they have a smaller ceremony at the cenotaph every 11-11.

In the church in one of the photos, which has a lovely Oamaru stone interior, there's a list of men from the parish who died, and what I found unusual, a list, a bit longer, of those who came back. They put a poppy beside each name of the first list as the centenary of their death came up, and there's a book which a page about each of them. We also have crosses for soldiers beside each tree along several of our main streets, and one just round the corner from us has a death date of November 1918.

[thisbluespirit]

What a timely and beautiful poppy!

And the BBC showed They Shall Never Grow Old, so I recorded it, and hopefully I'll be able to watch a bit at least.

[vilakins]

My brave armistice poppy is already beginning to fade. It grew through a crack in the limestone blocks and I applaud its timing.

Be warned: it's pretty graphic at times. I had to look away from some images, but the whole thing was so worth seeing. The colour and restoration of the old films makes it all so immediate, the personal narratives were always fascinating, and the insertion of sound behind the narrative to give us what the people were saying (taken from forensic lip-readers) added a lot, and very subtly.

I'd like to know what you think.

[thisbluespirit]

Thanks! My concentration is quite shaky and my DVR getting fuller, but I shall certainly try to at least see a little of it.

[judo100]

Looks like a perfect day for your memorial ceremonies. We have Veteran's Day here (in fact, it's today), but it is in memory of veterans from all the US wars, not just WW1 or WW2. There was a parade on Sunday, and local groups often have their own ceremonies.

I can imagine indeed that you remember being told at age 8 about soldiers being blown up, drinking from shell holes with bodies in them, and being gassed. It's amazing that the man talking to you was still alive. Every war is horrible, but I suppose the one you personally are in is the worst.

[vilakins]

Anzac Day (25 April) is the major remembrance day here for us and Australia. Armistice Day is always celebrated to a lesser degree, but this was a special occasion as it's 100 years. There were events all over the country.

[imhilien]

Great photos, it was a moving day.