Tomorrow, Sunday 8th November, at 11:00 a.m., Malawi will join the Commonwealth in observing Remembrance Day. A maroon will sound at the Mzuzu Cenotaph, the National War Memorial Tower in Lilongwe, and the Zomba War Memorial Tower, signaling two minutes of silence in honour of those who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars and in later conflicts. The Last Post will be sounded, wreaths laid and prayers offered for the fallen. The hymn O God, Our Help in Ages Past will be sung before Reveille, a timeless reminder that while generations pass, the duty to remember endures.
Remembrance Day traces its origins to the Armistice of 11 November 1918, when the guns of the First World War fell silent at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Since then, people across the Commonwealth have paused each year to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their nations. They remember not only the fallen, but also the families and communities whose lives were changed forever by their loss.
Malawi’s story is woven into the wider history of Remembrance. Thousands of Nyasaland troops served in the First and Second World Wars, fighting in East Africa, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Burma and other distant lands. Many never returned to the homes and families they left behind. We also remember those who fell in later conflicts and those who died serving in peace support and peacekeeping missions abroad. Their courage, service, and sacrifice remain an enduring part of our national heritage.
Tomorrow, whether at a memorial or wherever you may be, take a moment to pause. For those who gave their future so that others might have one. For those who served and never returned. For those whose sacrifice must never be forgotten.
They gave everything. We give two minutes.
We will remember them.
