2008年11月11日 星期二

Armistice Day

英國舉行儀式紀念戰爭陣亡將士
罌粟花
每年有近8000老兵參加紀念儀式
英國各地周日(9日)舉行停戰日紀念儀式,英國女王在倫敦向在戰爭中陣亡的英軍將士獻花圈。

在上午11點全國進行2分鐘默哀,女王在倫敦市中心的國家戰爭紀念碑獻了花圈。

在倫敦的紀念儀式中,數以千計的老兵列隊穿過白廳街的紀念碑致意。

在伊拉克和阿富汗的英軍部隊也舉行了紀念儀式。

今年的紀念日正好是第一次世界大戰停戰日90周年。

英國有近90萬人在第一次世界大戰中喪生。

英國首相布朗,外相米利班德以及各反對黨領袖也參加儀式獻了花圈。

英聯邦國家的40多個使節也參加紀念活動獻了花圈。

每年約有8000名英國老兵參加陣亡將士紀念儀式。

為了紀念在世界大戰中犧牲的將士,英國曾在1936年通過法定程序,確定每年離一戰停戰日最近的一個星期日為“陣亡將士紀念日”,也稱“休戰紀念日”(Armistice Day),今年的紀念日是11月9日。

1954年后,這個節日與“退伍軍人節”合在一起紀念。



World recalls end of World War I

French President Nicolas Sarkozy (centre) and his wife Carla Bruni take part in the Armistice Day wreath-laying ceremony in Paris, France, 11 November 2008
Wreaths are laid during Armistice Day services to remember the dead

Ceremonies are being held across the globe to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I.

Four years of trench warfare between Germany and the Allies killed some 20m people and redrew the map of Europe.

A major commemoration is taking place in Verdun, north-east France, where French and German troops fought for eight months.

The battle was the war's longest, and Verdun has since become a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation.

The Verdun hillside has come to symbolise the conflict's awful savagery, says the BBC's Europe correspondent, Jonny Dymond: During the fighting, more than 60m shells fell on the land, transforming it into a pitted piece of hell on earth.

No survivors

Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, and the Duchess of Cornwall are French President Nicolas Sarkozy's guests of honour at the event.

HAVE YOUR SAY
I shall remember my grandfather Thomas Crawford Robson killed only seven days before armistice
Linda, Leeds, UK

But no veterans are in attendance, says our correspondent. Not one member of the two huge armies that clashed on the fields of Verdun survives.

Only the dead are left to be remembered, and the backdrop of the service is the ossuary, which contains the bones of 130,000 men who died in the fighting.

Mr Sarkozy and Prince Charles laid wreaths in front of the building, a field of 15,000 graves.

At 1111 (1011 GMT) a respectful silence was observed, marking the time - at the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month - when the Armistice Treaty came into effect to end the war.

The silence was followed by the tolling of the bell inside the ossuary, as sombre-faced dignitaries processed inside.

There, Mr Sarkozy lit a memorial flame before a male choir sang the French national anthem.

Pacific century

Remembrance ceremonies have already been held in Australia, which lost 60,000 men in the conflict.

A wreath is laid at the cenotaph in Sydney, Australia, 11 November 2008
Services were held across Australia to remember the dead

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd used a speech at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra to issue a call for peace.

"We have all endured a most bloody century," he said.

"Let us resolve afresh at the dawn of this new century... that this might be a truly pacific peaceful century."

A lone bugler then played the Last Post, which is used to to commemorate the war dead in Commonwealth countries.

In the UK, three of the four surviving British World War I veterans - Henry Allingham, 112, Harry Patch, 110, and Bill Stone, 108 - will represent the RAF, Army and Royal Navy respectively during a ceremony at London's Cenotaph.

Mr Patch, Britain's oldest survivor of the trenches, will read an act of remembrance.

World War I was the world's first industrialised war.

It toppled four European empires, led to the creation of the Soviet Union, and marked the end of Europe's long global hegemony.

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