04 August 2014

World War One centenary events


The BBC has an article about the War, a hundred years on:

Royals and world leaders have gathered for ceremonies marking a hundred years since Britain entered World War One.
The Prince of Wales and David Cameron attended a service in Glasgow, Scotland, while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were in Belgium with many heads of state; dignitaries in Liege included French President Francois Hollande (photo, center), Queen Mathilde and King Philippe of Belgium, and German President Joachim Gauck. At that ceremony, Prince William paid tribute to the soldiers who "died to give us our freedom".
The day concluded with a candle-lit vigil at Westminster Abbey and a "lights out" event around the UK.
The day's events began in Liege, Belgium, where fifty heads of state gathered for a service to mark the invasion of Belgium. French President Francois Hollande said the country had been the first battleground of World War One and had offered "solid resistance" in Liege. "Deadly days" followed when French and British soldiers joined the conflict, he said.
Prince William said European countries which had fought bloody wars were now "friends and allies". Speaking to the gathered European leaders, Prince William said: "We were enemies more than once in the last century and today we are friends and allies. We salute those who died to give us our freedom. We will remember them."
Meanwhile, the service at Glasgow Cathedral, attended by Prince Charles, Cameron, First Minister Alex Salmond, and fourteen hundred others, heard from a number of Commonwealth figures.
The BBC's Laura Bicker said the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games was being discussed by many before the service, but the celebrations were "put to one side" as the congregation took time to "remember and reflect".
Prince Harry unveiled a memorial arch in Folkestone, Kent, where a parade followed the route taken by millions of soldiers who marched to the harbor to begin their voyage to France in World War One.

The beautiful military cemetery at St. Symphorien (photo, above) has been transformed. Across the boundary fence, in what is normally empty farmland, a great grandstand has risen, overlooking the graves of the first and the last British soldier to die in World War One. Cables snake around the gravestones of British and German soldiers, laid here side by side after the battles that raged around Mons in the summer of 1914. St. Symphorien has become an arena, overlooked by a worldwide audience, where a televised event will mark personal sacrifice and celebrate new friendships. Under the pine trees, David MacCarthy had come to find the grave of his great-uncle, killed ten days after arriving in Belgium, at the age of 23. Standing in front of the headstone with his daughter, MacCarthy said he was proud to be here on this anniversary.
The families who have travelled here from Britain and Germany share those sentiments.
Other commemorations include:
A wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in Glasgow, one of many events being held in Scotland.
In Northern Ireland, a service at St. Anne's Cathedral in Belfast will be attended by First Minister Peter Robinson and Secretary Theresa Villiers.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will mark the centenary at St. Symphorien Military Cemetery in Mons, Belgium.
Westminster Abbey will hold an hour-long candle-lit vigil service of prayer.
In Wales, a national service of remembrance at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff will also take place.
In Dundee, Scotland, a war memorial time capsule put together by postal workers in 1921 is to be opened
A new memorial is to be unveiled in Bramley, Leeds, in honor of five hundred fallen soldiers from the area.
Elsewhere, 888,246 ceramic poppies are being placed in the dry moat at the Tower of London, one for each soldier who died fighting for Britain and its colonies in World War One. The installation, by artist Paul Cummins, is entitled Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red.
Rico says there's an on-line museum, too, where he will make sure a photo of his maternal grandfather, G.H. Wilson, a World War One vet, is enshrined...

No comments:

 

Casino Deposit Bonus