Remembrance Day honours fallen soldiers
The Remembrance Day Parade is held every year on the closest Sunday to November 11.
“Freedom was not free; it came at a high price,” MOTH Denis McDonald said at the 102nd Remembrance Day Parade, held on November 8 at the Reveille MOTH Shellhole in Moth Road.
“The Remembrance Day Parade is held every year on the closest Sunday to November 11 (previously known as Armistice Day) which saw the guns fall silent and the end of hostilities at the end of the First World War,” said Adjutant Andrew Leece of the Reveille MOTH Shellhole.
“The parade is held on this day in all Commonwealth countries and has been held in Benoni every year since 1948.
“This is a time when all current serving soldiers, veterans and civilians come together to pay respect as we honour our fallen.”
Leece said in earlier years, the service was held at the Benoni Town Hall and more recently at the Cenotaph, at the Reveille MOTH Shellhole behind Willowmoore Park Stadium.
“The focus of the parade is to sound the last post at 11am (for the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month),” he explained.
A two-minute moment of silence was also taken before the wreath-laying ceremony began.
“The first minute is to remember all those who died during the war,” Leece said.
“The second minute is to remember all those who survived and bare the physical and often mental scars of the horror war can inflict.
“Reveille is sounded at the end of the two-minute silence.”
McDonald paid tribute to the soldiers who died and were unknown.
“There are between 8 000 and 12 000 unknown graves in Belgium,” he said.
The Remembrance Day is to acknowledge the soldiers who died and the ones who survived but were injured, both physically and mentally, had to adapt to life after their return and cope with everything they had been through.
“We remember the freedom claimed on our behalf by the soldiers and their families,” McDonald said.
Tribute was also paid to the animals that were used in the war.
The wreath-laying ceremony was held to pay respects to the soldiers who had died.
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Remembrance Service held at the Moth Reveille Shellhole
