Miranda RSL Sub-branch hold a Remembrance Day service this Sunday, November 11 to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
The service will be held at the Miranda War Memorial, Seymour Shaw Park and will start at 10.30am sharp.
A minute’s silence will be held at 11am to mark the moment the guns finally feel silent on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918.
Then the Last Post will be sounded.
Veterans, service personnel, schools, politicians and council representatives will take part and the public are invited to attend.
Master of Ceremonies will be Miranda RSL Sub-branch treasurer, Ari Havenaar who will recite the poem In Flanders Field.
VIP guest will be Southern Metropolitan District Council of the RSL, Barry Glover who will recite the Ode.
The Commemoration address will be given by Naval Lieutenant Emma Madigan.
The 318 Squadron Air Force Cadets Band will provide the music.
Several WWII veterans who are Miranda RSL Sub-branch members will be laying wreaths.
Other guests will include the Attorney General, Cronulla MP Mark Speakman, Miranda MP Eleni
Students from Gymea North Public School, Miranda Public School, Sylvania High, Port Hacking High, Gymea Technology High and Kirrawee High will also be laying wreaths.
On Friday Mr Havenaar addressed students at Gymea High, speaking on the significance of the 100th anniversary of the Armistice which ended the First World War (1914–18).
“One hundred years ago, on 11 November 1918, the guns of the Western Front fell silent after four years of continuous warfare,” Mr Havenaar said.
“With their armies retreating and close to collapse, German leaders signed an Armistice, bringing to an end the First World War,” he said.
“From the summer of 1918, the five divisions of the Australian Corps had been at the forefront of the allied advance to victory.
Beginning with their stunning success at the battle of Hamel in July, they helped to turn the tide of the war at Amiens in August, followed by the capture of Mont St Quentin and Pèronne, and the breaching of German defences at the Hindenburg Line in September.
“By early October the exhausted Australians were withdrawn from battle. They had achieved a fighting reputation out of proportion to their numbers, but victory had come at a heavy cost. They suffered almost 48,000 casualties during 1918, including more than 12,000 dead.
“In the four years of the war more than 330,000 Australians had served overseas, and more than 60,000 of them had died.
“The social effects of these losses cast a long shadow over the postwar decades.
“Each year on this day Australians observe one minute’s silence at 11am, in memory of those who died or suffered in all wars and armed conflicts.”
