The Commemoration Ritual is the heart of any remembrance ceremony.

If wreaths are to be laid, this should be done immediately before the Commemoration Ritual. By doing this, these tributes are included with the cenotaph on which they are laid and which is the focus of the Commemoration Ritual.

The Ritual has four parts:

·         The Ode

·         “Last Post”

·         The Silence

·         “Reveille”

The Flag is to be lowered to half mast at ten o’Clock and then returned to standard height at two minutes past eleven.

Is the fourth verse of Laurence Binyon’s poem “For the Fallen”. Written in 1914, it was used at commemoration ceremonies by the British Legion soon after World War I. In 1920 it was formally adopted as “The Ode” in all British Commonwealth countries.

Should be sounded immediately after the last line of The Ode is repeated by the assemblage.

In earlier times when English troops fought in Europe, Retreat was sounded when it became too dark to fight and the soldiers retired to the nearest town or village where they spent the night. Sentries were placed at the entrances of the camp or town. When the Duty Officer marched the sentries around the town to man their posts he was accompanied by a bugler who sounded “First Post” when the first sentries were posted and “Last Post” when the camp was finally made safe by manning the last entrance.

At a funeral or commemoration service sounding “Last Post” symbolises that the dead soldiers have ended their journey through life.

Shortly after the end of World War I George Honey, a Melbourne journalist in London, was dismayed that, in the noisy celebrations that marked the end of the War, no thought had been given to the human sacrifice that had made the celebration possible. He suggested that all people should stand in silence for 5 minutes in memory of the Fallen. Tests by the Guards showed that 5 minutes was too long and King George V accepted that The Silence should be of 2 minutes duration

(Our Governor-General issued a Proclamation in 1997 recommending that The Silence be for 1 minute).

The final line of Rudyard Kipling’s hymn The Recessional is a warning of what might become of us if we forget the power of The Lord.

The phrase was adopted for commemoration services to warn us that, if we forget the sacrifice of those who died in War, we are likely to repeat the futility and obscenity of armed conflict.

The expression is normally used to mark the end of The Silence and serves as a cue for Reveille to be played.

Is the bugle call that awakens servicemen and women at the start of the day. There are several Reveille calls any one of which may be sounded at dawn.

During the day the shorter, more raucous, “Rouse” is sounded.