St John’s Church, Cleveland Town, Bangalore, celebrated Remembrance Day. The solemn service is held every year either on November 11 to commemorate the supreme sacrifice and valour displayed by the men and women of the armed forces, who laid down their lives for the honour and glory of the country.
Members of the church who have served or are serving in the armed forces participated in the service in formal dress and wearing their medals. Captain P Dawson, representing the Navy, Group Capt SK Ebenezer, Shaurya Chakra, representing the Air Force and Sub K S David, representing the Army, followed the Church Choir, carrying wreaths into the church and placed them at the altar at the beginning of the service as Samuel Samson played the Slow March Scipio.
The Remembrance Day service was conducted by Rev Satyanandam Paul and Rev Violet Dennis. Rev Dr Jacob Cherian brought the message.
After the service, the wreaths were taken from the altar in a procession to the cenotaph, accompanied by two bagpipers playing Amazing Grace. The Presbyters and the Church members assembled at the Cenotaph along with the ASC Centre Band. At a solemn ceremony, after short prayers and hymns, the wreaths were placed at the Cenotaph. The Last Post was sounded by the bugler. Two minutes of silence was observed in memory of the valiant personnel who had died in action. The rouse was then sounded, and accompanied by the band, the hymn ‘Abide with me’ was sung. The ceremony ended with the national anthem. The programme was co-ordinated by Colonel Thomas John.
History of Remembrance Day
At 11 am on November 11, 1918, during the First World War, the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare. The Allied armies had driven the Germans back, having inflicted heavy defeats over the preceding four months. In November, the
Germans called for an armistice in order to secure a peace settlement. They accepted the
Allied terms of unconditional surrender.
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month attained a special significance in the post-war years. The moment when hostilities ceased on the Western Front became universally associated with the remembrance of those who had died in the war. This first modern World War conflict had brought about the mobilisation of over 70 million people and left between nine and 13 million dead, perhaps as many as one third of them with no known grave. The Allied nations chose this day and time for the commemoration of their war dead.
