Military Funerals in Australia

The ceremony carried out at military funerals has several features which remind us of practices of bygone days and which add to the impressiveness of the occasion. One of the most noticeable features is the custom of reversing the order of things from what they are normally.

When the body is being taken to the place of burial, firearms are reversed (see photo left), the precedence of those who follow the coffin is reversed, and if a horse follows bearing the dead warrior's boots, these are placed facing the rear in the stirrups (see photo below). This custom of reversing things is very ancient and was carried out by the Greeks in civil funerals as well as military.

When Sir Philip Sidney was buried in 1586 the troop who accompanied the cortege to the ship at Flushing, for the conveyance of his body to London, "trailed their swords and muskets in the dust".

At the state funeral in London there were in attendance "300 citizens trained for war, all holding their weapons reversed.", Captain Venn, a well-known military writer of the seventeenth century, refers to "pikes trailing reversed" at the burial of a private soldier.

In his famous diary, John Evelyn has the following, under the date 6th March, 1652, in reference to the funeral of General Ireton, Cromwell's son-in-law: "Saw the magnificent funeral of that arch-rebel Ireton, carried in pomp from Somerset House to Westminster, accompanied with regiments of soldiers, horse and foot.

Thus in a grave pace, drums covered with cloth, soldiers reversing their arms, they proceeded through the streets in a very solemn manner".

The carrying of muskets in the reverse manner was also done at the funeral of the great Duke of Marlborough in 1722.

A Lone Charger ANZAC Day marches and other memorial parades are often led by a lone, riderless horse, with a pair of boots pointing backwards in the saddle's stirrups. In the spirit of an even more ancient tradition, Saxon people used to bury a great warrior's horse with him so that it could serve him in the afterlife. This practice was continued in some European countries until the late eighteenth century. In modern times, custom has been kinder to the horse and it has been led along as part of its master's funeral procession; with his boots, like the arms of his soldiers, reversed as a sign of respect.
In some ANZAC Day parades a lone charger has been added to the parade as an additional symbol of respect and mourning, often for the men of the Light Horse units.

In ancient times it was a practice, which our Saxon forefathers perpetuated, of burying a warrior's horse with him. As late as the eighteenth century it was the custom in some European countries to bury the chargers of great military commanders with their late masters. The idea behind the practice was that they might be of use to their masters in the next world. We do not follow this practice, but up to recent times the custom of leading the charger to the grave side behind the coffin was observed.

In former times the pages of nobles followed the coffin of their deceased masters, carrying the regalia of the various Orders to which they belonged. This is perpetuated today by the carrying of an officer's decorations and medals on cushions by insignia-bearers behind the coffin.

Part of an article by John Haynes.

Catafalque Party

Legend has it that the first catafalque (cat-a-falk) parties guarded important and wealthy people’s coffins from thieves and vandals.

A catafalque, normally a raised platform supporting a bier on which a coffin rests, may be represented for ceremonial purposes by a shrine or remembrance stone.

At a memorial service for a distinguished personage, which is being held at a different location or time to the actual funeral, a representation of a catafalque may be erected in the churches concerned.

A catafalque party is a guard mounted over a catafalque on any one of the following occasions:

during a period of lying in state,
during a military funeral in a church,
at a memorial or special occasion such as ANZAC Day or Remembrance Day, and
during a memorial service in a church for a recently deceased distinguished personage.

A catafalque party consists of four sentries (occasionally 8 in 4 pairs), a waiting member in reserve and a commander.

If a catafalque party is requested to be mounted for an extended period of e.g. ‘lying in state’ then a series of ‘watches’ divided into ‘vigil’ periods will be provided.

A catafalque party must not be senior in rank to the deceased over whom it is mounted.

Reversed Arms	Rest on Arms Reversed

Above. The Soldier, Sailor and Airman are bearing (carrying) their arms (rifles) at the "Reverse Arms" position while the soldier in the background bears his in the "Shoulder Arms" position.
Right. The naval member of the Catafalque Party at the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier has his SLR at the "Rest on Arms Reversed" position. Normally the head is bowed as well as can be seen in the photo of the Catafalque Party
The tradition of Reversing and Resting on Arms as a mark of respect or mourning is said to have originated with the Ancient Greeks. Australian soldiers still Rest on Arms Reversed as a mark of respect for the dead. The Steyr rifle has proved difficult to carry reversed and the tradition has been modified. Many catafalque Parties, especially the Federation Guard, still use the longer, heavier L1A1 SLR rifle for ceremonial occasions.

The origin and meaning of firing three volleys of musketry at the grave side do not appear to have been established beyond question. Fortescue (vol I, p90) states that "the musketeers fired three volleys over it (the corpse) in the name of the Trinity" - this in reference to the sixteenth century. Referring again to the burial in London of Sir Philip Sidney, the account states that "Rounds of small shot were thrice fired by all men present and from the great ordnance on the walls two volleys were discharged as the corpse was taken from the shore", in Holland to the ship; and at the London burial "a double volley of shot from the churchyard informed the world outside that Sir Philip Sidney had been buried."

Version 1 (UK) Three rifle volleys are fired to honour the passing of a soldier below the rank of brigadier or as a general gesture of mourning and remembrance. The three volleys are believed to have originally represented the Holy Trinity. Other sources, however, place the origins of this practice much earlier, when at pagan funeral ceremonies dead warriors were honoured by their comrades riding three times around the funeral pyre.

Version 2 (USA) The practice of firing three rifle volleys over the grave originated in the old custom of halting the fighting to remove the dead from the battlefield. Once each army had cleared its dead, it would fire three volleys to indicate that the dead had been cared for and that they were ready to go back to the fight. The fact that the firing party consists of seven riflemen, firing three volleys does not constitute a 21-gun salute.

However, three volleys seem to have been the usual custom from the seventeenth century onwards, and might possible have had their origin in the pre-Christian-era practice when the pagan warriors cremated their dead comrades. At these ceremonials they rode on horseback round the burning pyre three times. Originally the volleys were fired inside the church, but the smoke and noise soon caused that practice to cease. At the present day the three volleys are fired at the funerals of all ranks up to and including the rank of full Colonel only. At the funerals of General Officers a salute of guns is fired, the number of rounds varying according to rank - eg, nineteen for a Field-Marshal and eleven for a Brigadier.

The sounding of the Last Post is, of course, the deceased's "goodbye" to this world, and the Reveille is the hope of awakening in the next and better world. In Trojan days there was a "clang of trumpets" at the cremation of their warriors. Part of an article by John Haynes.

Laurel Wreaths

Laurel Leaf Decoration Drawings Commemorative ceremonies in honour of those who perished in defence of their country often incorporate a wreath laying ceremony. The most traditional wreath is constructed from laurel leaves arranged in a circular intertwined pattern accompanied by a dedicatory card.

As a motif in bronze, wood or stone, laurel wreaths also adorn many of Australia's war memorials.

The use of wreaths, especially constructed from laurel leaves, continues a tradition that dates back to antiquity. The word wreath simply refers to a circlet of flowers, boughs, or leaves worn on the head, placed on a memorial, or hung as a decoration. Pre-dating the laurel wreath, the ancient Persians wore fabric headbands known as "diadems" which were often decorated with jewels.

The Greeks gave a wreath of laurels to winners in the Pythian games, and beginning in 776BC to victors in the Olympic Games. The most favoured origin for the practice is rooted in Greek mythology when the beautiful young nymph, Daphne, daughter of the river god Peneus, rejected the none-too-subtle advances of Apollo, son of Zeus. Daphne, in fear for her virtue, prayed to her father for protection. Peneus took the rather drastic but effective step of turning Daphne into a laurel tree on the bank of his river.

Apollo, previously struck by Cupid's arrow, was hopelessly in love with Daphne but had to make do with plucking branches from his transformed beloved in order to make a wreath in memory of her beauty and his love for her. The appropriated laurel wreath, now known as Daphne, was subsequently used for crowning champions who excelled in the ancient Olympic Games. Of course, such honours were not easily forgotten and it was not long before the wearers hung their treasured wreaths upon doorways and walls.

RAAF Badge - Flying Officer Roy Maxwell Madill The Romans adopted the laurel wreath and its association with success, placing them on the heads of their successful military generals during a triumph - a public celebration in ancient Rome to welcome a returning victorious commander and his army.

Laurel, in modern times, is a symbol of victory and peace.

St. Gudule, in Christian art, carries a laurel crown. Memorials dedicated since the terrible losses inflicted during the First World War often incorporate a laurel wreath as part of commemorative embellishment, and fresh wreaths containing laurel may be placed on memorials by dignitaries on important days such as Remembrance Day and ANZAC Day.

The fact that the tree is an evergreen is further symbolic, suggesting fidelity to the memory and recognition of sacrifice made by the Nation's youth. Aspects of fidelity and achievement associated with laurel have made it ideal for incorporation within a number of military badges and devices, as seen in the accompanying World War Two Royal Australian Air Force badge, worn by 35445 Flying Officer Roy Maxwell Madill RAAF.

The RSL Meritorious Service Medal is the highest award that may be made by the League to a member as an honour over and above Life Membership. The award includes a lapel badge in the form of a life member's badge surrounded by a laurel wreath which is worn by recipients in place of their previously awarded life member's lapel badge.

At many ANZAC Day ceremonies now, instead of a wreath an appropriate book is substituted and later presented to a local school.

Long known as the corn poppy because it flourishes as a weed in grain fields, the Flanders poppy as it is now usually called, grew profusely in the trenches and craters of the war zone. Artillery shells and shrapnel stirred up the earth and exposed the seeds to the light they needed to germinate.

This same poppy also flowers in Turkey in early spring - as it did in April 1915 when the ANZACs landed at Gallipoli. According to Australia’s official war historian C.E.W.Bean, a valley south of ANZAC beach got its name Poppy Valley "from the field of brilliant red poppies near its mouth".

In the years immediately following World War 1, governments and the whole of society, had not accepted the responsibility for those incapacitated and bereft as a result of war.

In Britain, unemployment accentuated the problem. Earl Haig, the British Commander-in-Chief, undertook the task of organising the British Legion as a means of coping with the problems of hundreds and thousands of men who had served under him in battle.

In 1921, a group of widows of French ex-servicemen called on him at the British Legion Headquarters.

They brought with them from France some poppies they had made, and suggested that they might be sold as a means of raising money to aid the distressed among those who were incapacitated as a result of the war. The first red poppies to come to Australia, in 1921, were made in France.

In Australia, single poppies are not usually worn on ANZAC Day - the poppy belongs to Remembrance Day, 11 November.

However, wreaths of poppies are traditionally placed at memorials and honour boards on ANZAC Day.

The red Flanders’ poppy was first described as a flower of remembrance by Colonel John McCrae, who was Professor of Medicine at McGill University of Canada before World War One. Colonel McCrae had served as a gunner in the Boer War, but went to France in World War One as a medical Officer with the first Canadian Contingent. He was KIA.

The Flanders Poppy. Symbol of sacrifice.

Flowers of the Forest

The origins of the lone piper are obscure, although a lone piper has been a feature of Scottish military ceremonies for several hundred years.

The bagpipes are the traditional instrument of the people of the Scottish highlands and have been carried into battle with Scottish soldiers from the days of William Wallace to the Falklands War of 1982.

Traditionally, in Scottish units a lone piper has taken the place of a bugler to signal the day's end to troops (see Last Post) and as such has also bid the farewell to the dead at funerals and memorial services. Flowers of the Forest is the tune usually played on these occasions. It is a traditional Scottish lament (a song of mourning and remembrance).

When pipers first became a feature of Australian memorial services is unclear, but with the significant size of Australia's expatriate Scottish community in the early decades of the 20th century, represented by several "Scottish" battalions in the Militia, the presence of a piper probably became established during the 1920s.

Version 1. The tradition of lowering flags to half mast (half staff) as a sign of remembrance is believed to have its origins on the high seas. As a sign of respect or honour for important persons, sailing ships would lower their sails, thus slowing the vessel and allowing for the VIP's own vessel to come alongside and him to board if he so desired.

Lowering of sails was also used to honour VIPs who were reviewing a naval procession from the land. In time only the ship's flags were lowered in a symbolic gesture. This practice was also adopted on land.

Version 2. The custom of flying a flag at half-mast (half-staff) arose from the flag being lowered the distance of a flag to allow "the invisible flag of death" to be flown above it.

When flown at half staff (half mast), the Australian National Flag should be first hoisted to the peak for a moment and then lowered to the half staff (half mast) position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day.

A minutes silence

Silence for one or two minutes is included in the ANZAC ceremony as a sign of respect. It offers a time for reflection on the significance of the whole ceremony.

The idea for the two minutes of silence observed at memorial services in memory of the dead is said to have originated with Edward George Honey, a Melbourne journalist and First World War veteran who was living in London in 1919. He wrote a letter to the London Evening News in which he appealed for a five-minute silence, amid the celebrations planned for the first anniversary of the end of the war to honour the sacrifice of those who had died.

In October 1919, Lord Milner put to the King a suggestion made by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, a South African, for a period of silence on Armistice Day in all the countries of the empire. Fitzpatrick's idea had its origins in a period of silence that was observed at noon in Cape Town following heavy losses among the South African Brigade on the Western Front; this observance continued until the end of the war. The King readily agreed to the proposal, but after a trial with the Grenadier guards at Buckingham Palace, at which both Honey and Fitzpatrick were present, the period of silence was shortened to two minutes. The connection between Honey and Fitzpatrick, and their ideas, if any existed at all, is unclear.

On 6 November 1919, George V sent a special message to the people of the Commonwealth:

I believe that my people in every part of the Empire fervently wish to perpetuate the memory of that Great Deliverance, and of those who laid down their lives to achieve it.

The King continued to ask that "a complete suspension of all our normal activities" be observed for two minutes at "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" so that "in perfect stillness the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the Glorious Dead."

Two minutes of silence was first observed in Australia on that first anniversary of the armistice and continues to be observed on Remembrance Day today. The two-minute silence has over the years been incorporated into ANZAC Day and other commemorative ceremonies.

The "rouse" and the "reveille"

After the one minute silence, flags are raised from half-mast to the masthead as "The rouse" is sounded. Today it is associated with the "Last post" at all military funerals, and at services of dedication and remembrance.

Since Roman times, bugles or horns had been used as signals to command soldiers on the battlefield and regulate soldiers' days in barracks. "Reveille" was a bright cheerful call to rouse soldiers from their slumber, ready for duty; the call has also been adopted to conclude funeral services and remembrance services. It symbolises an awakening in a better world for the dead and rouses the living, their respects paid to the memory of their comrades, back to duty. "Rouse" is a shorter bugle call which, as its name suggests, was also used to call soldiers to their duties. It is "Rouse", due to its much shorter length, which is most commonly used in conjunction with the "Last Post" at remembrance services.

The exception is the Dawn Service, when "Reveille" is played.

(Editorial Illawarra Mercury Tuesday, 13th April, 1967.)

Military Honours to Soldier of Wollongong
The funeral of the first Australian soldier to die on Australian soil after being wounded in Vietnam took place yesterday in Wollongong, accompanied by full military honours. It was the first full military funeral held in Wollongong for more than 30 years.

The funeral was that of 20 year old Private Russell Copeman, elder son of Major and Mrs J Copeman, of Jenner Ave, Towradgi. He was wounded in action against the Vietcong on January 18.
He was treated at a base hospital in Vietnam and was then bought to Australia at the beginning of March.

He was admitted to the Military Hospital at Ingleburn where he died on Monday morning.
Men and women wept at the service in St Michael's Church of England, at the Crematorium, and among the large crowds who lined the streets transgressed by the funeral cortege.

The service was conducted by the rector of St Michael`s Canon B. Williams. The lesson was read by Archdeacon E.A. Pitt, a former Air Force chaplain, and the address was delivered by the Rev. R. Gray, of Fivedock, formerly of St Mark's, West Wollongong an army chaplain. The Mayor, Ald. Bevan, wearing his chains of office, led the 350 mourners at the service.

Representatives of Army, Police, industry, commerce, ex-serviceman's associations, and a wide cross section of the community were present. The chief mourners were Russell's parents, his brother Darrell and sister Anne, His father is on leave from the United Nations Middle East. The General Officer Commanding the Eastern Command was represented by Major Campbell, and the Special Air Service Regiment with which Russell had served, was represented by Captain I. Gollings. The military escort, firing party and under-bearers were drawn from the 1st Battalion Royal Australian Regiment.

During the service two hymns with Army traditions "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" and "Fight the Good Fight" were sung. The organist, Mr I. McLeod, played the Funeral March as the coffin was borne from the church to be placed, covered with the Australian Flag. on the waiting gun carriage. It was drawn by an Army vehicle piled with flowers, led by a platoon of the 1st Battalion, with drummers beating a slow march on muffled drums. At the Crematorium, after the brief committal service conducted by Mr Gray, the firing party fired a volley of 36 rounds (3 volleys of 12), and the Last Post and Reveille was sounded by Army Buglers.

Speaking during the service, Mr Grey said that Russell came from a family with a fine and distinguished military record. "We are of the Armed Service and the people of the City of Wollongong are proud to be associated with the family in this last tribute to their son", He said.
Mr Grey recounted how Russell had joined the CMF and later had transferred to the highly specialised Regular Army, 3rd Special Air Service, a para-commando unit of specially picked men. "This unit in Vietnam has the dangerous job of leading patrols or being "tail end Charlie", covering the patrol`, he said. It was while being "tail end Charlie" that Russell received his wounds. The patrol into enemy held country, had no water for two days and was making towards a river.

Voices were heard, and the patrol took cover. Investigating the position of the enemy, Russell received 16 bullet wounds", Mr Grey said. Yet his only thought was for the men with him.
Serviceman John Madden, who was with him, and who is attending this service today, ran to his aid. He told me that Russell's only plea was for his mates to leave him and to save themselves.

The Lone Piper and Flowers of the Forest

Silence for one or two minutes is included in the ANZAC ceremony as a sign of respect. It offers a time for reflection on the significance of the whole ceremony.