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Hokitika Guardian, 10 November 1919, Page 2

The march of time will bring us tomorrow to the first anniversary of Armistice Day, the memorable occasion of last year when the raging battle along the great fronts in Europe ceased, and with the proclamation of the terms of th e armistice it became clear that the war had ended. The defeat of the enemy was rendered complete and absolute by the terms enforced by Marshal Focb ou behalf of the Allies. It was not a spectacular finish by a great surrender in ceremonial order, but the conditions were none the less humiliating to the once boastful enemy. The invading forces had to make good their exit within a limited time, rnd leave behind them the engines of warfare. Their great navy had to be given up, and the demands of the Allies met in many ways which pointed clearly to the fact that the Allies were victors, and complete masters of the military and paval situation. That condition of affairs assured to civilisation, that it was saved from the heel of the ruthless Hun, and aftep a period of trial and tribulation the world escaped to safety from a great catastrophe. The anniversary of the armistice period reminds us, too, of the fallen over whose prostrate forms the way to victory wag gained: “They lie dead in many, lands So that We may live here in Peace.”

Tiie King has asked that their memories shall be recalled to-morrow—the eleventh day of th 6 eleventh month—at the eleventh hour of the day. A world indebted to those dead warriors cap. do no less, let us do it with all reverence and regard for the deeds and memories of “our glorious 4ead ,? .

We are ntilj without a local movement to record the names of those who fell and served as a reminder not so much of the generation who have their names green W their memory, but of the generations to come who wijl be beholden to the armies of 1914-1918 for the deeds done in Europe and on. the high seas that the world might be saved from a hard task master who knew no curb but force greater than his own. Perhaps it is because the formal peace to .conclude the war has not been finally ratified, but the time is here purely when something should be done to honor the isacrifices made for the world’s security, and in which security we participate in a common way. An ornate metnprial of the war bearing at least the names of thy jfajllen should be reared in OUT fpids'k gg a peipipder for all time. Th 0 dead have gope beypfld recall", hut their mime® »nd their 'seryices can Ije kept in memory and passed op to posterity for their acnkowledgniepfc, too, as the sad anniversaries of the war's happenings come round. It is a simpfe duty wo have to perform in the matter, npd it is a civilian duty we should not avoid. In jnany ways the State is doing its part," a «d among other efforts it proposes to rear a national memorial of the wap, hut each community will have e> pepsppal desire to do something. The men were sept away 'by each town and hamlet with a promise that tlieir services should not be forgotten, Many, will not return to remind us by their presence of what we owe them. For these in- particular it is a clear duty to raise a district memorial and it is to be hoped the task will by carried faithfully into effect.