Remembrance Day still significant

At the stroke of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Australians across the nation will take one minute to remember those fallen.

November 11 recognises the end of World War I and this year’s commemorations will coincide with the 75 years since the Kokoda Trail was walked and 100 years since the Battle of Beersheba.

The Town of Port Hedland and Shire of East Pilbara will join the rest of the country this Saturday at the Newman RSL Memorial and the Port Hedland War Memorial.

Port Hedland RSL sub-branch secretary Robyn Middleton said while the day signified the end of WWI, the day had grown to represent much more.

“They used to call the First World War the war to end all wars but that never happened — we had WWII, Vietnam, Korea and now the trouble in the Middle East,” she said.

“These things are so easily forgotten because of time. There’s nobody around in our everyday lives to bring it to the forefront of people’s minds again.

“We need to carry that legacy and have that remembrance for the families that do have them and that’s the good part about Australians — we are a band of people together.”

Mrs Middleton said it was important to impart on the youth of today not only why the day was important, but that importance was not subject to only two days a year.

“If you’re young, you live in a bit of a cocoon. If you don’t have those things graphically in front of you, you get a little immune to it,” she said. “Someone, somewhere was a relative of someone, and to them it’s very poignant.”

This will also be the first Remembrance Day without the town’s last WWI Digger, Merv Stanton, who died late last month — another moment which will be remembered this weekend, Mrs Middleton said.

Locals are invited back to the Anzac House, on Hedditch Street in South Hedland, for refreshments to continue the Remembrance Day tradition.