Remembrance Day was formerly known as Armistice Day signifying the end of World War 1 at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. It is a time when people are encouraged to pause for a minute at that time to remember all those young men and women who fell in battle in times of war.
It now has an added significance for me for it was at 11am on the 11th November 2019 that a Memorial service was held for my wife who had died a couple of weeks earlier. When I realised the significance of the time I asked the minister taking the service if we could include a minute of silence at 11am and a short service honouring Remembrance Day. This he did.
I have often thought how appropriate it was that my beloved wife Carole’s service was held at that precise time. My own father had fought in the trenches in France and Belgium in World War 1 in 1916-1918 and was one of the few who returned home in 1919 without serious injuries. He never spoke of the war except to share a couple of amusing incidents. Carole had an uncle she was never to meet for he went from India to join the British Army in that war and was killed by a sniper just a couple of days before the war ended. She herself was just a young child when Japanese bombers dropped bombs in World War 2 on Kharagpur in India where she lived but there were no serious injuries. Seated in the church for her Memorial service was one of my nephews, a Major in the Army who had served in 2 tours of duty in Afghanistan. I myself had had some experience of life in the services in National Service in the Royal Australian Navy and then in the Naval Reserve for 5 years.
So every Remembrance Day now has an added dimension for me. I think of my own father who was a fine moral man who provided for his family as best he could, even in the Great Depression. I think of all those families whose sons or daughters served our nation but never returned home and the heartache that must have been for all those families. And now I think especially of my beloved wife who gave me so much love and support over almost 54 years of marriage and whom I miss so deeply. How blessed we are in life to have had parents who loved us, young people willing to risk their lives in serving and protecting our nation and wives or husbands who showered their love on us. It is good to remember, for we glorify God when we do so!
James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
Blog No.505 posted on Saturday 11th November 2023
About Jim Holbeck
Once an Industrial Chemist working for the Queensland Government but later an Anglican minister in Brisbane, Armidale and Sydney. Last position for eighteen years before retirement in 2006 was as the Leader of the Healing Ministry at St Andrew's Cathedral Sydney.
holbeck 
505. REMEMBRANCE [Armistice] DAY. A Deeper Meaning.
Remembrance Day was formerly known as Armistice Day signifying the end of World War 1 at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. It is a time when people are encouraged to pause for a minute at that time to remember all those young men and women who fell in battle in times of war.
It now has an added significance for me for it was at 11am on the 11th November 2019 that a Memorial service was held for my wife who had died a couple of weeks earlier. When I realised the significance of the time I asked the minister taking the service if we could include a minute of silence at 11am and a short service honouring Remembrance Day. This he did.
I have often thought how appropriate it was that my beloved wife Carole’s service was held at that precise time. My own father had fought in the trenches in France and Belgium in World War 1 in 1916-1918 and was one of the few who returned home in 1919 without serious injuries. He never spoke of the war except to share a couple of amusing incidents. Carole had an uncle she was never to meet for he went from India to join the British Army in that war and was killed by a sniper just a couple of days before the war ended. She herself was just a young child when Japanese bombers dropped bombs in World War 2 on Kharagpur in India where she lived but there were no serious injuries. Seated in the church for her Memorial service was one of my nephews, a Major in the Army who had served in 2 tours of duty in Afghanistan. I myself had had some experience of life in the services in National Service in the Royal Australian Navy and then in the Naval Reserve for 5 years.
So every Remembrance Day now has an added dimension for me. I think of my own father who was a fine moral man who provided for his family as best he could, even in the Great Depression. I think of all those families whose sons or daughters served our nation but never returned home and the heartache that must have been for all those families. And now I think especially of my beloved wife who gave me so much love and support over almost 54 years of marriage and whom I miss so deeply. How blessed we are in life to have had parents who loved us, young people willing to risk their lives in serving and protecting our nation and wives or husbands who showered their love on us. It is good to remember, for we glorify God when we do so!
James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
Blog No.505 posted on Saturday 11th November 2023
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About Jim Holbeck
Once an Industrial Chemist working for the Queensland Government but later an Anglican minister in Brisbane, Armidale and Sydney. Last position for eighteen years before retirement in 2006 was as the Leader of the Healing Ministry at St Andrew's Cathedral Sydney.