11/11 at Fromelles:3

The Fromelles local community organised a day of commemoration for the 90^th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice, as seen in the invitation below:

Once again Carole Laignel has been generous in sharing photos of these events. To start the day members of the l’Association F.W.T.M. (Fromelles Museum) gathered at The Memorial Cross of Cavalry Captain Kennedy, of the 2^nd Rifle Brigade (one of the 16,000 soldiers to die in the battle of Aubers Ridge on 9 May 1915), to lay wreaths.

Photo: Members of the Great War Heritage Group (UK) dressed in World War 1 uniforms at The Cavalry Lt Kennedy Memorial Cross.

At 11am the commemorations were centred around the Fromelles War Memorial.

Photo: Fromelles’ Church and War Memorial

The photo below shows the morning tea was hosted by the Fromelles villagers.

Photo: Carol Laignel attended the morning tea

In the afternoon wreaths were laid at VC Corner Cemetery, as seen in the following photos.

Later in the afternoon wreaths were also laid at Pheasant Wood, as seen in the following photos.

Our thanks go to Carole Laignel, the Secretary of F.W.T.M., for her generosity in providing the photos for this report.

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Next week we will take a look at Remembrance Day in Belgium and London. As well as a report on the FFFAIF Inc AGM.

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The Families and Friends of the First AIF thanks the Australian, UK and French governments for affording Australian and British soldiers – presently buried in mass graves at Pheasant Wood – dignified individual reburials in a new CWGC cemetery at Fromelles, and applauds Minister Snowdon and his British counterpart, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans, Kevan Jones MP, for their joint decision to DNA test the remains at exhumation and use every reasonable method to attempt identification of each soldier.