Ex-Vietnam war veteran Ken Jolley has been mowing the grass at the North Lismore war memorial site on Alexandra Parade in preparation for the first of two Remembrance Day ceremonies today, November 11.

He invites people to join him at the North Lismore location and take a minute’s silence on the 11^th day of the 11^th month - to commemorate the ending of the first world war.

Ken said while the Lismore RSL sub-branch will also hold a ceremony at 11am at the Memorial Baths centograph on Molesworth Street - the North Lismore memorial ceremony will begin at 9.30am.

“So, people can go to both and it doesn’t interfere with the main service in Lismore,” Ken said.

So why does Lismore have two war memorial sites?

“It’s about respect - and honoring that this site on the old railway line at North Lismore is where soldiers would get on the train before they went off to Brisbane, then were shipped off to fight on the battlefields of Europe,” Ken said.

“It was originally put here in 1926 and the local council raised £210 to build it, but never had enough funds to plant an avenue of trees leading up to it.”

The late Col Smith dressed in WW1 uniform at the opening of the North Lismore memorial.

Ken said the memorial was relocated twice, including to the Lismore railway station, until the station was finally closed.

That’s when Ken and a group of others lobbied to get the memorial returned to its original location in North Lismore, five years ago.

“One person said to me ‘it’s a little price of heaven in North Lismore',” Ken said. “I keep the grass mowed here and others want to help out doing things like painting the seat.

“It helps us remember that the soldiers who fought came some from all over the district to leave for war.”

The North Lismore Remembrance Day service begins at 9.30am.

Thomas George, Ken Jolley and David Elliott at ANZAC day this year.

The 11am Remembrance Day ceremony details

Lismore RSL sub-branch president Darryl Hawke said November 11 marks Remembrance Day and he invites the community to join at the RSL Memorial on Molesworth Street (in front of the Memorial Baths) to join in a one minute silence at 11am.

“We’d like people to assemble by 10.30am and at exactly 11am, we will have the silence," he said.

“We commemorate this day because, on 11/11/1918, a formal truce was signed ceasing hostilities during the first world war. That’s when discussion for a peace treaty started wasn’t signed until 1923 and millions of people were lost in the first world war.

“It’s often called the war to end all wars, but it failed to do that.

“So many sacrificed their lives and didn’t come home - or did come home and they and their families still suffered from it.

“It used to be called Armistice Day, but now we call it Remembrance Day and it’s a time of reflection where pay homage to those who suffered, remember the carnage that was WW1 and hope we don’t do it again."

Read more about Ken Jolley and the war memorial: SUNDAY PROFILE: Ken Jolley, tunnel rat to war memorial

North Lismore War Memorial showcased in National ANZAC Centre