For all of you who aren’t familiar with the history of WWI, much less the contributions of people from Australia and New Zealand to the British Empire – you can take a quick look here which will give you a bit of information. It is from a US perspective. Perhaps better would be to look at the program being held at the Australian War Memorial. . The War Memorial also has an extensive & well written encyclopedia for those who might not be familiar with terms, events, or the political realities of WWI.
There was little formal announcement here, with a sunrise service simply listed in the daily program as being at 0600 on the Deck 12 Retreat area. It was obvious from the attendance (close to 100 people) with remembrance t-shirts, poppies, and several with service ribbons pinned to their shirts, that there were a fair number of Kiwis and Aussies hidden among the passengers. Plus almost all of the Brits among the ship’s staff and a scattering of US & Canadian Veterans.
The service finished shortly after the 0632 sunrise
The rest of the day was quiet. It is a sea day. I spent the morning in the lounge, stitched, chatted with a few people then headed back to my cabin when the “fun & games” started. It is just too loud.
I’ve made it past 80% on the LongDog. More importantly, I finished Wishful Thinking (also by LongDogSamplers) today. It has joined the Quick Quaker on my cabin wall. Magnets are so useful!
Thanks for being there as well