We will remember our fallen brothers

The war veterans commented during the Armistice Day celebration that the fact that a full moon shone is significant, because that would usually be the time when armed forces would make their move to invade.

Louis-John Haverman, a keen historian and a member of MOTH, explained before the parade ceremony the considerable sacrifices that were made by young men on the battlefields in order for us to have peace.

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Haverman confirmed that nine million soldiers died during World War One and that 80 per cent of the male population of Germany and France, aged between 15 and 49, were wiped out due to this bloody conflict. After the presentation, he recited the MOTH prayer, “At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.”

This initiated the Remembrance Parade under the order of Sgt Maj Jan Fokkens. The chairman of Mpumalanga Shellhole, Karel de Beer, also attended the ceremony, but Gerrie Labuschagne, the acting Old Bill, had the privilege of directing the ceremony.

Labuschagne told Nelspruit Post that he is an old Angolan bush war soldier. “I am proud to be part of this moment and it was a honour for me to have had the privilege to fight for my country.”

Wreaths were laid and a moment of silence was observed, during which the Stevenson-Hamilton Pipe Band melodies stirred intense emotions among those that attended the event. “I think constantly about my comrades who had perished on the field. Their efforts will never be forgotten and I will attend this parade each year in their honour,” Labuschagne said.

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November 11, 1918 earmarks the ceasefire agreement signed between the Allies of WWI and Germany. In 1919, King George V issued a proclamation asking at the time when the Armistice came into force, on the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, that a moment of silence be observed in remembrance of “the glorious dead”.