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Today is Armistice Day: on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, when the "war to end all wars" or known as the World War One in Europe ended. 18,000 New Zealanders died.
Many New Zealand soldiers fought and died in the European soil. There is a ceremony at the Auckland Museum or the Auckland War Memorial. I was there with my sister Rose on ANZAC Day when we remembered the Australian and New Zealand soldiers.
Today is Armistice Day, with many New Zealanders pausing at 11.00am to remember those lost in the 1914-18 war.
In 1918, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month, the world rejoiced and celebrated the end of the First World War.
After four years of bitter conflict, an armistice had been signed. The 'war to end all wars', as it was ironically known at the time, was over.
November 11, 1919 was the first day set aside as Armistice Day to remember the sacrifices made during World War I in order to ensure a lasting peace.
History shows, of course, that the 'lasting peace' was only to endure until 1939, when Europe, and later the world, found itself at war again.
In ten years from today, Armistice Day will fall on a date of interest to trivia buffs as well as war historians: 11.11.11
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8 comments:
I have a friend that has moved to New Zealand today. Hope to visit her next year. Nice picture of an special day :0)
Great tribute and commemoration. I've been there. :)
Sydney - City and Suburbs
A fine tribute to the ANZACs, Ann.
Americans tend to be woefully under-informed about the heroic role the ANZACs played both in WWI and WWII. For starters, few Americans realize that WWII began for the ANZACs two years earlier than it did for the U.S. ...
Always love going back to New Zealand with you. Just wish it could be in person.
To find the grave of my grandfather at Hill 60 at Gallipoli was the object of a weekend visit from Istanbul.We had booked through a tour operator there but a few days from departure from Sydney,I contacted them top confirm they would take us to Hill 60 and they said they do not go to that part of the peninsular on their tours.I cancelled right away and, luckily,in that weekend's newspaper's travel section was a letter from a person who had booked with directly in Istanbul so I emailed them and was told http://www.privatetoursinistanbul.com they could take us to Hill 60 at no extra cost.A coffee break half way after 2 1/2 hours allowed us to stretch our legs. On the final part of the 5 hour journey,a tape was played outlining the history of the Dardenelles-Gallipoli campaign in 1915. Upon arrival at the Maydos waterside restaurant we were given lunch on the terrace wirth a wonderful view across the Dardenelles then we were off to the Brighton Beach site (one beach south of Anzac Cove and we were shown large maps of the area nd our guide explained the topography and battles shown on the map and the sites we would be visiting that afternoon.After the rather complete and highly interesting afternoon tour which included a visit to the local museum, we were taken back to restaurant and boarded a cruiser for the short crossing of the Dardenelles to Cannakale.. This in itself was a bonus as one could view the Gallipoli peninsular and grasp the view which eluded so many in rthe 1915 campaign when only a few Australian soldiers reached the peaks and saw the Dardenelles which we were now crossing,only to be beaten back by the Turks under the leadership of Attaturk later reforming President of Turkey.Included in the tour was a Sunday morning tour of Troy- that most elusive and explored city which Homer wrote about some 1200 years BC with Helen, the beauty being kidnapped by Paris and the resulting Trojan War which saw Troy VI destroyed only to be rebuilt at least 5 more times! There is a wooden horse there now but the original is said to have been a seige engine. driver and a guide to go north to Hill 60 to find my grandfather's grave. Through some wheat fields and onto a low knoll and here we were- the first persons to ever visit his grave, front row extreme right hand end.Only 44 graves, some 930 all buried in common grave, the action was made up of left-overs from various regiments,Aussies,New Zealanders ,British in this, the last main battle of the campaign.They were all wiped out in 2 days. An Australian flag, some gum leaves and a red poppy we left on the grave stone- it is a lonely place,sad and gut wrenching when one sees the absolute wastage in human lives-Back to Istanbul on the coach with memories and a feeling that we had, at least fulfilled one of life's ambitions!
We are also celebrating Veterans Day today. Thanks for this info Ann. Happy weekend!
SWF
Captured beautifully!
Late visiting from SW, hope you can peek at my Skywatch entry when you get a chance. Thanks.
It's a sad day for a lot of people. But, also a day of respect.
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