November 11, 2018, marked 100 years since the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I hostilities.

The community gathered in Victoria Park and the honour roll of those killed in war, in all conflicts from South Africa to Afghanistan, was read.

Forbes RSL sub branch president Michael Walker shared reflections on the day that war ended, the celebrations that spread across the allied nations and the toll on those who served. 

Australia’s official war historian Charles Bean was heading to the front with Australian troops on November 11.

“He noted that among the soldiers all was calm, with the cessation of the fighting, but the further he motored from the front line, the louder became the celebrations,” Mr Walker reflected. 

On the front in Belgium and France, a “strange quietness … was an expression of feelings deep”.

Corporal Morgan from the second battalion of Meadow Band NSW recorded that day in his diary.

“So to all intents the war is finished, or so it seems, and as one sits and ponders sadly of those many pals who are gone to the home from which no wanderer returns, the very flower of our manhood have paid the greatest price,” Mr Walker quoted. 

Australia lost more than 60,000 in World War I. Just shy of 500 men enlisted in Forbes, 68 would not return. 

The morning’s service ended with silence at the stroke of 11am and the sounding of the Last Post.