The Significance of Silence--
The concept of Remembrance Silence is a traditional token of
respect for the dead. It is most famously associated with the Two
Minutes' Silence observed each year at 11 a.m. on 11 November
— Armistice Day — a tradition inaugurated by King
George V in 1919 to commemorate the first anniversary of the end of
hostilities on the Western Front.
From the outset, the RSA also utilised Silence to pay homage to
departed comrades. The toast of "Fallen" or "Absent Comrades" has
always been honoured in silence at RSA functions, while the news of
a member’s death has similarly been observed in silence at
meetings.
Similar ceremonies developed in other countries during the
inter-war period. In South Africa, for example, the Memorable Order
of Tin Hats had by the late 1920s developed a ceremony whereby the
toast of "Fallen Comrades" was observed not only in silence but
darkness, all except for the "Light of Remembrance", with the
ceremony ending with the Order’s anthem "Old Soldiers Never
Die". In Australia, meanwhile, the South Australian State Branch of
the Returned Sailors & Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia
similarly developed during the interwar period a simple ceremony of
silence for departed comrades at 9 p.m., although the significance
of this time is unclear. There is no evidence that a 9 p.m.
Ceremony was observed in New Zealand prior to the Second World
War.
A Remarkable Story---
The widespread observance of a ceremony of silence at 9 p.m. in New
Zealand actually dates from the Second World War and the story of
its origin is a remarkable one. It begins not during the Second
World War, however, but the First World War. In early December
1917, in the mountains around Jerusalem, two British Army officers
were discussing the war and its probable aftermath on the eve of a
battle. One of them, in a premonition of his death, requested his
fellow officer to remember him and the millions of others who would
die during the War: "Lend us a moment of it [your time] every day
and through your silence is greater than you know". The following
day the speaker, as he had foretold, was killed. His companion,
Major W. Tudor Pole, never forgot his comrade’s last request
and at the outbreak of the Second World War campaigned tirelessly
to implement a daily observance of silent prayer.
The "Big Ben Silent Minute"
Members of the so-called ‘Big Ben Movement’, with the
support of Winston Churchill, took up Tudor Pole's cause and
successfully campaigned for the reinstatement of the broadcast of
Big Ben’s chimes at 9 p.m. on the BBC as an appropriate
observance (the chimes had been replaced by the Greenwich Time
Signal at the outbreak of the war). The nine o’clock chimes,
which lasted a minute, were publicised as a Minute of Silent Prayer
and Rededication prior to the first airing on Armistice Sunday, 10
November 1940. The ‘Big Ben Silent Minute’, as it was
known, became a source of inspiration not only in Britain but also
throughout the empire.
9 p.m. Ceremony in New Zealand--
The chimes of Big Ben were re-broadcast daily at 9 p.m. in New
Zealand from April 1941 as a mark of solidarity with Britain. The
practice quickly won public support but it was the RSA that
particularly came to embrace it. The earliest record of its
observance was at the NZRSA Dominion Council meeting on 29 May
1941. The practice was adopted at all Dominion Executive Committee
meetings from mid June 1941 — one month before the House of
Representatives began to observe the minute — and from early
1942 local RSAs were being urged to adopt the practice at their own
meetings and functions. A new tradition of remembrance had begun
and soon became known simply as the "9 p.m. Ceremony".
The RSA keeps faith--
After the Second World War, the RSA campaigned to retain the 9 p.m.
broadcast, winning the admiration of W. Tudor Pole himself.
However, while the public was prepared to remember the dead once a
year on ANZAC Day; a daily observance was deemed excessive. The
nightly radio broadcasts were reduced to Sunday night only in 1947;
eventually being dropped altogether during the 1960s.
The RSA however continued to keep faith. Over the years, other
traditional symbols of remembrance — the recital of Binyon's
famous lines and the symbolism of light — were added to the
Silence. These dignified embellishments completed the
transformation of what had begun as a religious ceremony to a truly
ex-service ceremony.
Sixty years after its origins in 1941, the Remembrance Ceremony
(as it is known today) is still one of the most poignant
observances of the RSA and a tribute to its members’ eternal
pledge:
We Will Remember Them.
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