ARMISTICE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 1, 3 January 1927, Page 3

ARMISTICE DAY

OBSERVANCE IN LONDON

HOMAGE TO "GLORIOUS DEAD"

CEREMONY AT THE CENOTAPH.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

LONDON, 16th November

Those who were privileged to Tjc in Whitehall at 11 o'clock on 11th November may have wondered whether the solemn ceremony commemorating the million dead will still be performed and stir the hearts of the people in. ten or twenty years' time. Certain it is that on this seventh occasion the Two Minutes' Silence was.no less imposing, and Whitehall, converted for the day into a sacred shrine, contained no fewer people than it has during the six previous occasions on which the public have assembled to Honour their dead. The. simple pile of stone which we have raised in commemoration has mads a different Whitehall. It has altered its character, given it a new significance. One day each .year it'is not a London street.. It shuts out all its accustomed traffic until after the setting of the sun. It becomes the cathedral of our race, with the sky as the roof,, and these heaped stones are its altar. Even in the other 364 days of tho year the Cenotaph remains an altar honoured by all. Pew men are so deeply absorbed in their own affairs as to pass by without saluting the national monument. But on the one .day in the year, a day of strange and wonderful memories, the King at the head of his people, his Ministers, the representatives of all parts of the Empire, soldiers, sailors, and men and women druwn from every walk of life, united on this occasion, assemble in a solemn service of thanksgiving and remembrance. Before the sun has gone down the floral tributes of the thousands who pass in an endless procession have buried the base of the monument, and are strewn thick for thirty feet on either side yof it. Thus it will be for years to come, for it is difficult to imagine that those in authority will ever suggest that this solemn *>ageantry should cease. ROUND THE CENOTAPH. In. Whitehall the picture last Thursday was much the same as in other years. This time, however, the sky «vas clear, and there were fitful glimpses of the sun. The Houses of Parliament at the one end and Nelson's Monument at the other stood out. clearly. Around the open space with "the Cenotaph as the central figure there were grouped the units of the Services. There marched in to the music of their bands successive contingents from the Royal Marines in khaki greatcoats and w.hite helmets, from the Eoyal Navy in blue, the Life Guards in their flaming scarlet and glittering helmets, the Territorial Army, the Eoyal Air Force, and last, the Brigade of Guards in grey coats and black bear-skins. -All were -uniformed in their greatcoats so that grey and blue and khaki formed the frame of the picture. Far down Whitehall as the eye could reach, everywhere save where "a thread of the roadway was left open, the people by tens of thousands were massed solidly. .On the. southern side of the Cenotaph were the Navy and Air.Force buglers, and behind them the Guards' bands and. the pipers. By half past ten the military were in their places, and the band began to play their solemn music. Big Ben struck a quarter to eleven. It was still a motionless picture. That indefinable whisper which always seems attendant upon a vast crowd was hushed in expectation. A few moments: passed; and the procession of.clergy appeared, a crossbearer at the head, Children of the Chapel. Eoyal. in their dress of scarlet heavily, braided with gold, Gentlemen of. the Chapel Eoyal, wearing red under their white surplices, all displaying war medals, and the choir of Westminster Abbey supplementing • their numbers; then Dr.' Carnegie, the sub dean, and others of the Abbey clergy, and the Bishop of Willesden, who in the absence abroad of Dr; Winnington-Ingram conducted the: religious service. The bishop's chaplain bore his pastoral staff before him. A large group, it took station on the Cenotaph's eastern side, giving the :one element wanting to complete this church under. the open sky, with a congregation such as no walls built by man have encompassed^ THE KING ARRIVES. The King, in Field : Marshal's service dress, came out at the. Homo Office steps. The troops stiffened; there waa no Eoyal salute, no playing of the National Anthem——yet. It was a service of thanksgiving and remembrance that His Majesty was about to attend with his people. Accompanying b-"-n were the Prince of Wales, in the uniform of-colonel of the Welsh Guards, arid the Duke of York, wearing Air Force uniform. The King moved direct |to the base of tie Cenotaph, and there deposited a beautiful wreath of poppies and laurels, a like duty being fulfilled by his sons and by Prince Arthur of .Connaught. Afterwards representatives of various Eoyal personages also I placed their wreaths. .Others were laid at the stone by the Prime Minister; by Cabinet Ministers, and by the Prime Ministers of the various Dominions. Mr. Coates laid a wreath bearing the inscription: "In reverent memory; from the Government and people of New Zealand." It was a circle of bronze chrysanthemums with a large bunch of white lilies at the top. ' So many were the representative wreaths that Earl Beatty, with the Eoyal Navy's tribute, had, hardly turned, from the Cenotaph when the 'chimes of Big Ben were heard, ffhe boom of a gun coincided ' with the 1 first of the eleven strokes of the clock. A few seconds later the silence fell. No sound came from the groat concourse of people. All had their own intimate thoughts, but in the printed Order of Service was included the "suggested subject of thought'and prayer" while the two minutes ran its course: "In remembrance of those who made the great sacrifice, O God, make us better men and women, and give peace'in our time." AFTER THE SILENCE. _ Again the gunfire, to signify that the bilence was over, a roll of drums, and the air was sharply cut by the bugle notes of the "Last Post" from trumpeters of the Air Force. '• They rose and tell-m that cadence which all have come to know so well, and, lingering, died away. The short service had but one hymn, and- that tho one inseparable from .this occasion. To music from the massed bauds of the Brigade of Guards, the public joined with reverent heartiness in singing "O God, Our Help in Ages Past,'" the towering office buildings of .Whitehall holding in and returning a. deep volume of sound bo with four verses, and before iho last was givena renewed of drums, and .he brass instruments playing louder to increase too fervour of the human voices. No hymn is more familiar, none so dramatically effective when rising from the throats of such vast numuers. The Bishop of Willesden in a loud clear voice read the Collect. The Lord's aftei; the Bishop raising his hand to bestow the Blessing. Eeveille was sounded by a line of buglers of tho Eoyal Marines, . The, massed bands crashed out the National Anthem Tho .service had lasted little more than ten imnutes. Brief as it was, it will be in ineffaceable memory. Speaking of the ceremony afterwards the PJ', me Mlnister & New Zealand said: It was a most impressive occasion. One felt that the spirit of the nation was again finding expression, in

grim silence, as the days of its great trialwcre-recalled." Now Zealahders who received invitations to view the ceremony from the windows of the Dominions' Office were Lady Parr, Mr. and Mrs. W. Furkert, Mr. and Mrs. M. Myers, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Nathan, and Dr n E. J. Tillyard. • IN THE ABBEY While the ceremony at the Cenqtaph was in progress a service was also being held in .Westminster Abbey. At the Cenotaph the ceremony has a national aspect, but at Westminster there is the more personal touch. There is a grave, and there is a body—and no one knows whose it may be. The service was marked by extreme simplicity, and, but for a few touches of red in the robes of the Abbey clergy, the scarlet of a soldier's sash, the Flanders poppies which all wore, and the solitary banner hanging on the wall (the padre's flag from the Somme), there was little colour in the building.'.: The large congregation included detachments. from the Fighting Services.of to-day, and of the British Legion. The service began promptly at 10.30, with the singing by tho choir, which was led by the Precentor (the Rev. L. H. Nixon), of the Contakion of the Faith^pl • Departed, adopted from the ■liturgy of the Eastern' Church. Wheiv the last word of the solemn rtliant had finished echoing through the grey aisles, the Dean read the lesson, chosen from Wisdom iii. 1-9, beginning: '? But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God," and ending: "They that put their trust in him shall abide' with Him; for grace and mercy is to His saints and He hath care for His elect." Then followed the Lesser Litany, the Lord's Prayer, and the Collects. NEW ZEALAND'S TRIBUTE! The procession to the grave was headed by the Cross of Westminster, held aloft, and tho scarlet .robed probationers. After them came the choristers, .with the Abbey, clergy bringing up the rear. The High Commissioners represented the Dominions in the Abbey. They were near the head of the procession, and as they came to the "Unknown Warrior's" tomb they separated so that on one side stood the representatives of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand; on the other the representatives of South Africa, India, the Irish Free State, and Newfoundland. At the .foot, to represent the Eoyal Navy, the Army, and the,Eoyal Air Force, were Rear-Admiral Sir .- H. Brand, Lieut.-General Sir Robert Whigham, and Air-Marshal Sir J. Salmond, with General. fair Claud Jacob and other .officers to represent A Indian Army. ■■ For New Zealand, Sir James Parr laid a handsome ■ wreath bearing the inscription: "The Government and people of New Zealand render homage to the "Unknown Soldier.' " Outside .there was the boom of a gun and then tue measured strokes of Big Ben, The silence was kept. After th,e guns .in the Park'had' again boomed out the congregation sang, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past." The Blessing, pronounced by the Dean, was followed by the .national Anthem, in which the congregation again heartily joined. The bugles outside blared forth the "Eeveille," the organist played the retiring ■ voluntary, and the congregation, stopping awhile to contemplate the Tomb, and many of them, to place wreaths on it, passed out iiito-" the streets, their places soon to bo filled by the'waiting crowds outside. Then began the long procession of : the : public. Maple leaves, mimosa, shamrock, orchids, roses, chrysanthemums, and heather soon framed the tomb. In grey and khaki and blue'the comrades 'of the Unknown, file past. The' people followed. Single poppies, sprays, wreaths of them, were cast gently on the tomb; and soon the golden lettering that ''tells of "The Unknown's" sacrifice was lost to .".-sight; '. Sunshine..passed, shadows lengthened, afternoon was merged into night—arid', still that bed of poppies grew. And when at last the great doors closed the floral beauty on the borders of the grave framed a scarlet pall. ; New Zealanders who were invited to take part in. the Abbey service were Mrs. H. D. Fulton, Mrs. W. G. Malone, Mrs. P. Barr, Miss Barr, Dr. and Mrs. H. A. H. Gilmer, Miss .Darling, and Mrs. E. K. Mulgan; ,' ' ' AMPLIFIERS AND WIEELESS. While the Cenotaph and Westminster Abbey were the chief centres for the solemn ceremonial, in many parts of London, and indeed all over the Kingdom, other services were being held. This occasion was unique, too, in that the Abbey service was broadca-t, and thousands of families in their (own homes were able, to participate in a measure^ in the service. , Amplifiers were used at the Royal Exchange and ' the impressive, service there was heard by thousands of the city workers. The Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs, together with -the ,Common Councilmen, had places on the steps of the Eoyal exchange. Below them in a semi-circle round the memorial were the standard-bearers of the London regiments. On either side were representative detachments of these units, together with a body of men of the Eoyal Naval Volunteer Eeserve, and facing the Exchange were the buglers and the band of the 90th Field Brigade E.A. Beyond and around" this island were the thousands of people, chiefly men, who had ceased work to gather for the observance of the minutes of remembrance. The mrjiiity of;them seemed to assemble iii the last ten minutes before 11 o'clock. Three minutes before the hour crowds'wero still surging along the six main streets towards the Mansion House, but these hrd to be content with pJaees a long way from tho scene of tha service. In Queen Victoria street and Poultry the crowds stretched away for quite . 100 yards. Fortunately, amplifiers, working admirably, made the service audible to everybody. ■ / ' ■ IN LONDON STREETS. Crowds that seemed 'larger than those of last year assembled at Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, and Marble Arch, which have become the natural centres* where those out'''of doors in the West End gather to observe the Two Minutes' Silence. About a quarter to eleven hundreds of employees from offices, wholesale houses, and motor-car firms . began to pour out into the streets, many of them hatless and all wearing-poppies, to join the waiting crowds. So great were the numbers which massed on the pavements and overflowed into the roadway that traffic ceased to pass a little while before the appointed time, and' long queues of omnibuses lined up with their tops filled with standing people. As seen from an omnibus top the immobility of the crowds was as impressive as the long Two Minutes' Silence. In many of the stores, short services were held near the Eolls of Honour. Customers were invited to join in these commemorations, and many people went specially for them. The practical expression of the sentiment which has made Armistice Day a day apart in the nation's history was more than ever apparent in the number of red Flanders poppies that were worn, and in London t^ere was hardly a man or woman who was not wearing one of Lord Haig's flowers. It was heartening to pass along tho streets and see so widely worn that little flower of remembrance with all that it implied in practical help to a large number of. ex-Service men and their dependants; and to know that it was also being worn in the liners at sea and in the Dominions and colonies, even^ to the most remote parts of the Empire, a3 well as all over the United Kingdom. This year 30,000,000 flowers

were" supplied for sale, arid there is a reasonable hope that last year's total receipts of £392,000 may be increased to half a million. 85, Fleet street. ... , ■!