DUNDEE: Remembrance Day to be marked at Cenotaph
Dundee will commemorate this 102nd Anniversary this Sunday
Remembrance Day was on Wednesday 11 November.
The Peace Treaty to officially end World War One was signed at 11:00 on 11 November 1918, and Dundee will commemorate this 102nd Anniversary this Sunday 15 November at the Dundee Cenotaph from 11am where over 20 wreathes will be laid The Cenotaph was originally erected by public subscription to remember those Dundee citizens who gave their lives in the War. But what about those men and women who simply “disappeared”.
Lost at sea, blown to bits, left on the battlefield until they were unrecognizable. The Reverend David Railton, a padre serving with the Allied troops, once found a rough wooden cross planted in the ground with the penciled legend “An Unknown British Soldier” on it.
The sight had such a profound effect on him that, on his return home, he suggested that the Government should hold a symbolic funeral and burial of an “unknown soldier’ to remember all those who had made the final sacrifice for their country but the whereabouts of their final resting place was unknown. The suggestion was supported by the Dean of Westminster and by the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George,.
Finally approved by King George V, the tomb of the Unknown Warrior is now in Westminster Abbey. In 1916 an officer of Le Souvenir Francais had a similar idea of burying an “unknown soldier’ in the Pantheon. This was voted into law in September 1919 and the first service was held on Armistice Day 1920 at the Arc de Triomphe.
Many other countries have followed this example – the USA, Portugal, Italy, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria to name a few. Even Zimbabwe followed suit with one at Heroes’ Acre in Harare. One of the most symbolic aspects of these tombs is an “eternal flame” burning. Unfortunately, in Zimbabwe’s case, the gas ran out after a couple of days and the flame burnt out. But one can look at this in two ways – an insult to the dead, or else very symbolic of their lives being extinguished.
According to an article by Stacey Conradt, one soldier was buried at Arlington cCemetery, USA, in 1921. Four more have been added – two (one each for the European and Pacific theatres) for World War Two, and one each for Korea and Vietnam.. The tomb has been guarded 24/7 since 1937, regardless of weather conditions.
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