Community
14 November, 2024
Crowd gathers for Remembrance Day
THE community gathered in silent reflection on Remembrance Day this week to pay respects to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
The Terang and District Returned and Services League sub-branch (RSL) hosted a service at the Terang War Memorial on Monday morning.
Around 50 members of the community were in attendance to pay their respects, as Terang RSL president Terry Fidge reflected on the horrors of war – and the toll it had taken on nations around the world.
He recounted the events of the first World War, stating it was “the most destructive conflict which had yet been experienced by humanity”.
“When it began in August 1914, few imagined the course it would take or foresaw the terrible toll,” Mr Fidge said.
“From a population of just under five million, more than 400,000 Australians enlisted for the Australian Imperial Force, with more than 300,000 serving overseas.
“More than 60,000 Australians lost their lives in a devastating toll for a small country, and around the world some 10 million died in what was then called The Great War.
“Families and communities everywhere were affected by this enormous loss, and the celebrations by victorious nations were tempered by grief and sorrow.”
In 1919 and every year since, at 11am on November 11, people across the world have paused to reflect.
Originally known as Armistice Day, reflecting on the anniversary of the armistice called at the conclusion of World War One, the day not only marked a commemoration of those who died but celebrated the return to peace.
As this peace did not last, many nations changed the name to Remembrance Day – serving as an occasion to pay respects to those who had died, and to remember the horrors of life when peace was not sustained.
“So great was the loss of life, and so devastating had been the destruction, that people had hoped the Great War would be the last war – the war to end all wars – but this was not to be,” Mr Fidge said.
“Two decades after the war had ended, the world was plunged in to a second global conflict – no longer could Armistice remain a day of remembering the dead of the first World War.
“After World War II ended in 1945, November 11 became known as Remembrance Day.
“When we pause at 11am on November 11, we reflect on the price Australia and countries around the world have paid through more than a century of war and conflict that followed the Great War.”
Lest We Forget.
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