Remembrance Day next Wednesday will commemorate all those who have fallen

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, Australia will stop to remember.

After COVID-19 disrupted commemorative services throughout 2020, next Wednesday’s Remembrance Day service in Albany will be a chance for the public to pay their respects.

It will commemorate the day when the guns fell silent on the Western Front after four years of continuous warfare. The sacrifices made by Australians at war will be honoured more than 116 years after so many of them left from Albany for World War I.

Albany resident and former State Government minister Kevin Prince will give the keynote address.

Mr Prince is a former army reserve officer and held the role as the Honorary Colonel of the 10th Light Horse Regiment in WA.

Service director Michael Tugwell said the Remembrance Day service would bring together the full year of commemorations.

“To me, it is a finale for a year’s commemorative services and it is, I think, on a par with Anzac Day for its importance,” he said.

“It is, of course, a much smaller event and whether it will always remain that way or whether it will become bigger in time, I don’t know.”

The 11th/28th Battalion will support the service and provide the catafalque party.

The Albany Aero Club will perform a fly-over at next week’s service.

Mr Tugwell said the Albany RSL sub-branch decided to have the local club do the flyover rather than attempting to secure the services of the Royal Australian Air Force.

“They will do this under the control of Ralph Burnett, and Ralph and his crew are very good,” he said. “That frees up the air force for other towns and communities who don’t have aero clubs that can do the job, and it gives us that local touch.”

The service will be held at the Albany War Memorial on York Street from 10.30am.

The standard road closures will be in place for York Street and surrounds.