thedrifter
11-12-04, 07:12 AM
Solemnly, world remembers its war dead on WWI anniversary
PARIS (AFP) - In sombre ceremonies, world leaders and war veterans paid tribute to their war dead on the anniversary of the end of World War I, a conflict remembered only by a rapidly dwindling band of survivors.
In London, Queen Elizabeth led a two-minute silence, a tribute especially poignant with British troops still in conflict -- and dying -- in Iraq (news - web sites).
As the Last Post sounded in the shadow of London's Westminster Abbey, the queen laid a cross at a special grass plot next to where relatives and friends of the dead will plant 20,000 tiny wooden crosses.
Each will be adorned with a blood-red poppy, the name and rank of a fallen loved one and a message of commemoration.
One cross was for Scotland's Black Watch regiment, currently stationed near Baghdad to relieve US-led forces elsewhere in Iraq. At its Scottish base, the flag flew at half-mast in memory of five of its soldiers killed in Iraq in the last fortnight.
Later, 1.3 million poppy petals -- one for every British and Commonwealth soldier killed in action since the beginning of WWI -- were to be dropped over the river Thames.
Armistice Day commemorations are held on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month to mark the November 11, 1918 signing of the accord that ended World War I, although they also honour the dead from all wars.
More than 950,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers died in that war.
Few WWI veterans are left now. In France there are only 15, aged at least 105 -- last year there were 36 -- and none was able to attend the main French ceremony in Paris.
There, President Jacques Chirac laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier underneath the Arc de Triomphe.
He inspected troops assembled beside the landmark before laying the wreath on the grave marking the last resting place of an unidentified soldier killed in the 1914-1918 conflict.
Veterans minister Hamlaoui Mekachara said the homage was also in honour of nine French soldiers killed during an upsurge of violence in Ivory Coast over the weekend.
"Nine soldiers died while fulfilling their duty. They died defending peace, building it. They were killed in cowardly fashion."
Other ceremonies were taking place elsewhere around the world.
In Canberra, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said while the world of 1918 would be unrecognisable now, "what has not changed are the qualities of sacrifice and patriotism and independence of spirit,"
Australia has several hundred soldiers in Iraq, a deployment which remains highly controversial at home.
In Wellington, the remains of an unknown soldier from New Zealand killed in France during WWI were returned Wednesday to an emotional Maori and military welcome.
They were to be entombed Thursday at a national memorial following a lying in state and a funeral cortege.
New Zealand was thus becoming one of the last of the war's participants to create a tomb of the unknown soldier.
Other ceremonies were planned Thursday in Belgium -- the first country to bear the brunt of WWI and whose last veteran from the conflict died two months ago -- as well as Poland, Latvia and the Czech Republic.
Further afield, events including a wreath-laying by US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) at Arlington National Cemetery on what is known in the United States as Veterans Day, and in Hong Kong and elsewhere.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1503&ncid=1503&e=4&u=/afp/20041111/ts_afp/wwi_anniversary_041111145159
Ellie
PARIS (AFP) - In sombre ceremonies, world leaders and war veterans paid tribute to their war dead on the anniversary of the end of World War I, a conflict remembered only by a rapidly dwindling band of survivors.
In London, Queen Elizabeth led a two-minute silence, a tribute especially poignant with British troops still in conflict -- and dying -- in Iraq (news - web sites).
As the Last Post sounded in the shadow of London's Westminster Abbey, the queen laid a cross at a special grass plot next to where relatives and friends of the dead will plant 20,000 tiny wooden crosses.
Each will be adorned with a blood-red poppy, the name and rank of a fallen loved one and a message of commemoration.
One cross was for Scotland's Black Watch regiment, currently stationed near Baghdad to relieve US-led forces elsewhere in Iraq. At its Scottish base, the flag flew at half-mast in memory of five of its soldiers killed in Iraq in the last fortnight.
Later, 1.3 million poppy petals -- one for every British and Commonwealth soldier killed in action since the beginning of WWI -- were to be dropped over the river Thames.
Armistice Day commemorations are held on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month to mark the November 11, 1918 signing of the accord that ended World War I, although they also honour the dead from all wars.
More than 950,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers died in that war.
Few WWI veterans are left now. In France there are only 15, aged at least 105 -- last year there were 36 -- and none was able to attend the main French ceremony in Paris.
There, President Jacques Chirac laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier underneath the Arc de Triomphe.
He inspected troops assembled beside the landmark before laying the wreath on the grave marking the last resting place of an unidentified soldier killed in the 1914-1918 conflict.
Veterans minister Hamlaoui Mekachara said the homage was also in honour of nine French soldiers killed during an upsurge of violence in Ivory Coast over the weekend.
"Nine soldiers died while fulfilling their duty. They died defending peace, building it. They were killed in cowardly fashion."
Other ceremonies were taking place elsewhere around the world.
In Canberra, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said while the world of 1918 would be unrecognisable now, "what has not changed are the qualities of sacrifice and patriotism and independence of spirit,"
Australia has several hundred soldiers in Iraq, a deployment which remains highly controversial at home.
In Wellington, the remains of an unknown soldier from New Zealand killed in France during WWI were returned Wednesday to an emotional Maori and military welcome.
They were to be entombed Thursday at a national memorial following a lying in state and a funeral cortege.
New Zealand was thus becoming one of the last of the war's participants to create a tomb of the unknown soldier.
Other ceremonies were planned Thursday in Belgium -- the first country to bear the brunt of WWI and whose last veteran from the conflict died two months ago -- as well as Poland, Latvia and the Czech Republic.
Further afield, events including a wreath-laying by US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) at Arlington National Cemetery on what is known in the United States as Veterans Day, and in Hong Kong and elsewhere.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1503&ncid=1503&e=4&u=/afp/20041111/ts_afp/wwi_anniversary_041111145159
Ellie