Armistice Day, 90 years on...

Today, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year, thousands in New Zealand and around the world will gather to mark the end of what was supposed to be the "war to end all wars".

Armistice Day marks the anniversary of the 1918 signing of the Armistice, the pact that brought World War One - the bloodiest conflict the world had seen - to an end on the Western Front.

New Zealand sent around 100,000 men and women abroad from a population of 1.1 million at the time.

Around 18,000 died and over 40,000 were wounded - a higher per capita casualty rate than any other country involved.

Two minutes silence and wreath laying ceremonies will be observed at memorials across the country to mark the 90^thanniversary.

A wreath will also be laid at a service at the National War Memorial in Wellington starting at 11.00am.

Armistice Day in 2004 saw what is believed to be one of the biggest ceremonial undertakings in New Zealand's history when the "Unknown Warrior" was buried at the foot of Wellington's war memorial.

The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior contains the remains of a New Zealand soldier who died on the Western Front during World War I, but whose body could not be identified and whose identity remains a mystery.

He was brought back from a graveyard in Somme in France, and honoured with medals and a full military procession through Wellington.

Over 10,000 people turned out to pay their respects during his lying-in-state vigil, held at Parliament.

He is now a symbol of remembrance for all the New Zealanders who were killed in the war.

Armistice Day marks only the symbolic end of WW1, as while the conflict ceased on the Western Front, hostilities continued in other areas.

The return of soldiers to New Zealand is commemorated in a series of events, talks, movie showings, exhibitions and recitals throughout the country.

- © Fairfax NZ News