ARMISTACE DAY ARMISTACE DAY is the anniversary of the symbolic end of World War I on 11 November It commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies and Germany at Rethondes, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning — the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month". While this official date to mark the end of the war reflects the cease fire on the Western Front, hostilities continued in other regions, especially across the former Russian Empire and in parts of the old Ottoman Empire.

ARMISTACE DAY IS CELEBRATED IN MANY COUNTRIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD BUT HAS A PARTICULAR SIGNIFICANCE FOR PEOPLE FROM BRITAIN, CANADA, NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA. AMERICA CELEBRATES ON NOVEMBER 12 AS VETERAN’S DAY. IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND IT IS FOREVER LINKED WITH THE ANZACS – THE A USTRALIAN N EW Z EALAND A RMY C ORP AND THE BATTLES THEY FOUGHT AT GALLIPOLI AND IN EGYPT.

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND TROOPS LANDED AT GALLIPOLI AND WERE SUBJECTED TO SEVERE SHELLING THAT KILLED THOUSANDS OF SOLDIERS.

SIMPSON AND HIS DONKEY. JOHN SIMPSON KIRKPATRICK SERVED AS 202 PRIVATE J SIMPSON, AUST. ARMY MEDICAL CORPS. After landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915 Simpson “stole” a donkey he named “Duffy” to help him bring back wounded soldiers. They operated for 24 days through almost impossible conditions. Simpson would start his day as early as 6.30 a.m. and often continue until as late as 3.00 a.m. He made the one and a half mile trip, through sniper fire and shrapnel, times a day. He would leave the donkey under cover while he went forward to collect the injured. On the return journey he would bring water for the wounded. Simpson was killed by machine fire on 19 May 1915 aged 23.

AFTER THE DEATH OF SIMPSON, A NEW ZEALANDER, Lt. RICHARD HENDERSON TOOK OVER HIS WORK AND MANAGED TO SURVIVE THE WAR. BACK IN NEW ZEALAND WORKING AS A TEACHER, HENDERSON BECAME BLIND AND SICK BECAUSE OF THE POISON GAS INHALED IN 1917 AT PASSCHENDALE, FRANCE. HE DIED ON NOVEMBER AGED 63. Simpson's donkey was evacuated with the ANZACs when they left Gallipoli. When they reached one of the Greek islands, the donkey disappeared. Since it was probably the donkey's original home (the donkeys were bought from farmers on the Greek Islands, such as Lemnos) there is a good chance Duffy broke its own tether when it smelt home.

THEY LIVED AND DIED IN THE MUD AND THE TRENCHES – AUSSIES, KIWIS AND “JOHNNY TURK”.

THEY DIED..... AND DIED …..

BUT HOW MANY DIED? Total troops mobilized by all countries in WW1 65,038,810 Total troops dead from all countries in WW1 8,556,315 Total troops wounded from all countries in WW1 21,219,452 Total missing or POWs 7,750,945 The total number killed during WW1 (including civilians) was 16.5 million.

THIS WAS CALLED “THE WAR TO END ALL WARS” THEY SAID THERE WOULD NEVER BE ANOTHER WAR THAT WOULD BUTCHER A GENERATION AS WORLD WAR 1 HAD DONE.

AND DID WE LEARN ?? Russian Civil War ,000 DEAD Russo-Polish War ,000 DEAD Riffian War ,000 DEAD Chinese Civil War ,000 DEAD Chaco War ,000 DEAD Abyssinian War ,000 DEAD Spanish Civil War ,000 DEAD Second World War ,000,000 DEAD French Indochina ,000 DEAD

Korean War ,200,000 DEAD French-Algerian War ,000 DEAD First Sudanese Civil War ,000 DEAD Vietnam War ,200,000 DEAD Biafran War ,000 DEAD Iran-Iraq War ,000 DEAD Afghanistan ,000 DEAD : Somalia's civil war 550,000 DEAD 1991: Gulf War - against Iraq to liberate Kuwait (85,000) DEAD : Congo's civil war (800,000) DEAD : Sierra Leone's civil war (200,000) DEAD : Russia-Chechnya civil war (200,000) DEAD : Yugoslavian wars (260,000) DEAD

: Algerian civil war (150,000) DEAD : Congo Brazzaville's civil war (100,000) DEAD : Burundi's civil war (200,000) DEAD 1994: Rwanda's civil war (900,000) DEAD 1995-: Pakistani Sunnis vs Shiites (1,300) DEAD 1995-: Maoist rebellion in Nepal (12,000) DEAD 1998-: Congo/Zaire's war - Rwanda and Uganda vs Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia (3.8 million) DEAD : Ethiopia-Eritrea war (75,000) DEAD 1999: Kosovo's liberation war - NATO vs Serbia (2,000) DEAD 2001-: Afghanistan's liberation war - vs Taliban (40,000) DEAD 2003: Second Iraq-USA war - USA, UK and Australia vs Saddam Hussein (14,000) DEAD

: Sudan vs JEM/Darfur (300,000) DEAD 2003-: Iraq's civil war (60,000) DEAD 2004-: Thailand vs Muslim separatists (3,700) DEAD AND ON AND ON AND ON…….

WE LEARNED! WE GOT BETTER AT KILLING PEOPLE!

The poppy emblem was chosen because of the poppies that bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their red colour an appropriate symbol for the bloodshed of trench warfare.

TODAY WE REMEMBER ALL THOSE MEN AND WOMEN WHO DIED IN TIMES OF WAR AND CONFLICT, BOTH AT HOME AND IN FAR OF PLACES, IN THE DEFENSE OF PEACE AND FREEDOM. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR WAR, THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR SENSELESS KILLING. IT SHOULD NOT HAPPEN BUT IT DOES EVERYDAY AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO. IS IT THE NATURE OF HUMANS TO KILL? MY GENERATION TRIED TO SAY NO AND FAILED. HOPEFULLY YOU WILL SUCCEED.

Joseph Ambrose, an 86-year-old World War I veteran, attends the dedication day parade for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He is holding the flag that covered the casket of his son, who was killed in the Korean War

THE LAST ANZAC MARCHES ON. ALEX CAMPBELL WAS 16 WHEN HE LANDED AT GALLIPOLI IN HE DIED IN 2002 AGED 103.

Harry Patch (centre), the last surviving British soldier to fight in the First World War, who died this year at the age of 111.

Jack Babcock, 16, in Valcartier, Quebec in At 107 years old, he wears a beret of The Royal Canadian Regiment, the unit he joined in October 1916 as a replacement during the First World War. HE IS CANADA’S LAST WW 1 SOLDIER.

BUY A POPPY AND WEAR IT WITH PRIDE AND HUMILITY.

AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE SHALL REMEMBER THEM

Please no watch this video on Youtube.