Percy Fitzpatrick

At 05:30 on the morning of 11 November 1918, in a railway coach standing at a remote railway siding in the heart of the forest of Compiègne, Germany signed the Armistice Agreement that brought the war to an end.

Soon after, telegraph wires were humming with the message: “Hostilities will cease at 11.00 today November 11. Troops will stand fast on the line reached at that hour...”.

Thus, at 11:00 on 11 November 1918 the guns on the Western Front in France and Flanders fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare, warfare that had witnessed the most horrific casualties – such as when on a single day in the Battle of the Somme, there were more than 60,000 casualties.

So ended the First World War, at that time although officially known as the Great War it was usually known in the common vernacular as ‘the war to end all wars’! Regretfully the common vernacular got it terribly wrong as apart from a number of local wars being fought continuously in various places in the world, two months short of 21 years later world war was again started and what we know as the Second World War commenced on the 3rd of September 1939.

Most people today are aware of the Act of Remembrance, which when possible is held annually at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

A ceremony that is carried out in many places in many countries, when people come together to...

Recently my family and I had an absolutely magical night time visit to the Zoo – Grandson Cayde’s 8th birthday party (some time after his actual birthday). We were a large group of about 49 people – maybe half kids and then all the parents, 4 grandparents plus cousins, aunts and great aunt. It was an amazing experience. The 20 plus children were all under the age of ten.

On a warm November Saturday evening,  we gathered at the Jan Smuts avenue entrance to the Johannesburg Zoo for a long anticipated sunset tour of the Zoo. It is an imaginative initiative of the Zoo to run unusual expeditions and host these birthday treats.  It is 5pm and you arrive as the Saturday afternoon crowds are streaming out towards busses and cars. There is easy parking within the Jan smuts Avenue car park. It is totally safe and secure. The Zoo is about to close to the general public but you are a special guest  at a slow quiet time of the day.

The adventurous gang of boys (it was the birthday party of our eight year old grandson) were equipped with their torches and sharing the camaraderie of special friends (Kathy Munro)

If you have never done a nighttime tour it is a Johannesburg must do experience. We are here for...

Remembrance Day, or Poppy Day as it is sometimes known, is observed every year on 11 November, or on the nearest Sunday to that date. How many people these days know what this date signifies? Over the years, many South Africans have lost sight of the significance of the term 'remembrance' in the military sense. This short article will attempt to rectify this.

Cenotaph Johannesburg (The Heritage Portal)

In 1918, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the guns fell silent to end the First World War (1914-1918), the largest global man-made catastrophe known until that time. The 'war to end all wars' cost the lives of a total of 8 634 300 soldiers. Twenty years later, the Second World War (1939-1945) saw the loss of 24 517 000 combatants' lives. In addition to these statistics, millions of civilians died during both conflicts.

As a comparatively young country which permitted only a small segment of its population to bear arms, South Africa nevertheless made significant contributions to the Allied causes in both world wars and in the Korean War (1950-3). In the First World War, 245 419 South Africans of all races volunteered for military service; during the Second World War, 342 692 South African men and women of every race...