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Thursday, November 11, 2010

Lest we forget!



In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915


In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.





The Australian War Memorial will conduct the national Remembrance Day ceremony later this morning. This year's ceremony will include a tribute to Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Governor-General Quentin Bryce will deliver the commemorative address at the War Memorial, the symbolic focus of Australia's Remembrance Day ceremonies. The formalities will include the traditional minute's silence at 11:00am, to remember the moment the guns of the Western Front fell silent in 1918.

Since 2004 the names of those who have died in war are added each Remembrance Day to the Roll of Honour at the Memorial. It contains the names of more than 102,000 Australian war dead.

This year the names of 10 soldiers killed in Afghanistan will be added to the roll.

Similar Remembrance Day ceremonies will be held around the country.