General News
10 November, 2024
We will remember them
Warracknabeal will stop for a one minute silence at 11am on Monday November 11 to honour those who died in the line of duty for their country.
Remembrance Day has been held on November 11, each year since the end of World War 1 in 1918.
It recalls the end of World War 1 hostilities - the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Warracknabeal RSL sub-branch will mark the occasion with a wreath-laying service at the cenotaph in front of the post office, commencing at 10.30am.
RSL members and organisations wishing to lay a wreath are asked to assemble outside the post office by 10.30am.
History of the Poppy
The red Flanders Poppy was among the first plants to spring up in the fields of northern France and Belgium after four years of devastation during the Great War.
The poppy was first sold by the Returned Soldiers' and Sailors' Imperial League of Australia (now the RSL) in 1921 when the league imported one million silk poppies made in a French orphanage.
They sold for one schilling each with just under half of the proceeds going to a charity looking after French orphans.
In the literature of the First World War the poppy became the symbol of the sacrifice of shed blood.
In 1915 Canadian doctor John McCrae penned 'In Flanders Field' after seeing poppies on the battlefield near Ypres.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row to row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still blindly singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields
Take up our Quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though the poppies grow
In Flanders fields.