- Title: VARIOUS: Soldiers and veterans around the world pause to remember fallen soldiers
- Date: 12th November 2009
- Summary: MANILA, PHILIPPINES (NOVEMBER 11, 2009) (REUTERS) VETERANS STANDING DURING OPENING RITES SOLDIER PLAYING "TAPS" ON BUGLE CEREMONIAL WREATHS BEING LAIN IN FRONT OF CEMETERY CHAPEL, SOLDIERS AND U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE PHILIPPINES KRISTIE KENNEY SALUTE AT WREATHS (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) MANUEL MONTECILLO, LAWYER AND WORLD WAR II VETERAN, SAYING "They should remember the sacrifices of their elders, all for the sake of their lives and having peace and prosperity for all. All we ask is that they remember our sacrifices."
- Embargoed: 27th November 2009 12:00
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- Topics: History,Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVA95CGRK0FQCCVMGGQ2WV4ZUWKC
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- Story Text: Thousands around Asia participated in and attended services to honour fallen soldiers on this Remembrance Day, Wednesday (November 11).
In Sydney, Australia, the very young and the very old sat side-by-side to reflect on the sacrifices their countrymen made in past conflicts. One man spoke of the necessity of fighting for peace and freedom.
"You love peace and freedom. Unfortunately, at times you have to fight to preserve your peace and your freedoms," said the veteran.
Members of the public and officials came together at the Australian War Memorial in the nation's capital, Canberra. A sombre silence fell over the crowd as they observed a minute's silence.
A wreath laying ceremony took place before a lone bugler played the haunting "Last Post".
More than 102,000 Australians have lost their lives in the course of war.
Australia's Remembrance Day falls on the day of the armistice which ended the First World War, but remembers all those Australians who have suffered or died in every conflict or peace operation.
In the Philippines capital city of Manila, the United States Ambassador Kristie Kenney and former Philippine president Fidel Ramos led rites honoring Filipino and American World War II veterans.
The event, held in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, was attended by around 50 World War II veterans along with their families.
A ceremonial wreath in honor of the fallen during the war that ended 64 years ago was laid in front of the chapel in the heart of the memorial park.
"They should remember the sacrifices of their elders, all for the sake of their lives and having peace and prosperity for all. All we ask is that they remember our sacrifices," said Manuel Montecillo, a lawyer who also fought during the Second World War as a lieutenant in Corregidor, a fortified island that served as a last stand for Filipino and American soldiers before the Philippines was overrun by the Japanese in 1942.
The military cemetery, the largest of its kind in the Pacific, holds over 17,000 war dead from the United States, the Philippines, and other allied nations.
And in Kabul, Afghanistan, British ambassador Mark Sedwill and about a dozen of army soldiers attended Remembrance Day ceremony on Wednesday at the British cemetery to commemorate the dead of their country men.
Sedwill marked the Veterans Day with putting wreath of flower under the plaques and paying respect.
European hostilities were officially suspended at 11 am on the 11th of November, 1918 after the German government accepted the armistice terms set out by the allied forces.
Remembrance and Armistice Days are observed in many Commonwealth and European countries on the 11th of November.
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