This year makes the centenary of the signing of the Armistice which ended WW1, making November 11 commemorations particularly significant.
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Glen Innes RSL Sub-branch vice president Gordon Taylor said there will be poignant addition to this year’s program will be the release of homing pigeons, recognising the contributions the birds made to wartime communications.
Mr Taylor will be presenting a speech during the service on the role played by carrier pigeons and animals in the war effort, noting the creation of a medal, equivalent to the Victoria Cross, for some particularly heroic efforts.
There are a number of stories of birds braving enemy fire and ferocious conditions to return to their loft badly injured, but still with important life-saving messages attached.
A number of their contemporaries will be released during the Remembrance Day service, hopefully to return to their Church Street home.
In a nod to the past, morning tea will be served in the pavillion that used to house the War Tearoom in ANZAC Park leading up to the start of the service at 10.25am.
The service will be conducted by Sub-branch president Richard O’Dell, with reference to the significance of the poppy flowers that sprang up on the killing fields of Belgium and continue to this day.
Mr O’Dell will introduce Mayor Carol Sparks to recite the famous Flanders Fields poem penned by Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, and the reply to the poem.
There will be the laying of wreaths by school representatives, community groups and veterans. Mr Taylor asked anyone intending to lay a wreath to please advise the RSL Sub-branch.
In Glen Innes and all over Australia the Last Post will be played just before 11am, followed by a minute’s silence and reveille.
Lunch will be offered by the Sub-branch in the park following the conclusion of the service.
The Emmaville service also starts at 10.25am, at the Cenotaph, with a similar program and barbecue following.
Next week Sub-branch members will be helping to set up window displays at several shops in the CBD to mark the centenary, bringing some valued honour boards out of storage to take their rightful place in the sun for several days.
Mr Taylor will also be visiting local schools for Remembrance Day services, and is particularly looking forward to visiting Glen Innes Infants School where the children have planted poppies in the school garden.