November 8, 2006
By Tabisa Mntengwana
ON Remembrance Sunday all police officers killed in the line of duty will be remembered alongside all South African soldiers who died in the service of the country.
The 86th National Remembrance Sunday will be held, as always, at the Cenotaph in Harrison Street, Johannesburg on 12 November at 2pm.
To mark the occasion, a South African Police Service platoon and band will parade, there will be a wreath-laying ceremony and police chaplain Reverend Gicks Moyane will lead the service.
According to a report from the City's arts, culture and heritage department, Remembrance Sunday is an annual event that contributes to unification and nation-building in South Africa.
"The service honours all South Africans who made the supreme sacrifice for their country in wars and conflict, including the struggle for democracy."
Participating on the day will be the South African National Defence Force; the Freedom Regiments of the City of Johannesburg; and military veterans, including the Military Veterans' Association of Umkhonto we Sizwe and the Azanian Peoples' Liberation Army.
The day will begin with a parade by military bands, the national army and military veterans. It will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony, with wreaths laid by army officials, ex-service organisations, civil dignitaries, and police widow, orphans and youth groups.
Tribute will be paid to the four policemen shot in Jeppestown in June this year.
"Remembrance Sunday provides an opportunity to commemorate those who lost their lives in the fight against crime," reads a press release from the organisers.
National Remembrance Sunday has been held at the Cenotaph since 1920, when it was first held. In 1996 the City rededicated the memorial to all those who died in all wars and armed conflicts, including the struggle for democracy in South Africa.
The day was first observed to recall those who died in World War 1, the Great War. It is held on the Sunday closest to the anniversary of the armistice. This truce marked the end of the war, which was generally hoped to be "the war to end all wars". Armistice was signed at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.
Traditionally a red poppy is worn on Remembrance Sunday, symbolising the blooming of the flowers on some of the worst battlefields of that war.
"Poppies have always been associated with Remembrance Sunday and we encourage people to wear them on that day," said Eric Itzkin, the deputy director of immovable heritage in the City's arts, culture and heritage services unit.
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