``Everything stopped at one minute to 11: traffic, boats, cars, trains, pedestrians,'' he said.

``Everything was still for two minutes and we all remembered.

``When you consider how many [Australian] men fell in World War I, 60,000, that's a whole generation.

``Now nobody stops. There is no silence anymore.''

He said on Remembrance Day, next Wednesday, November 11, it was time for people to stop as they once did.

``Everyone is in too much of a hurry but it is time to stop and think,'' Mr Watts said.

``What's two minutes in a day?''

Mr Watts said Remembrance Day was recognised worldwide but he was concerned that its symbolism was being lost.

His father fought in both world wars.

``He went away to World War II in 1939 and didn't come back.

``They told us he was missing, believed killed.

``I was 12 years old and before he went I remember he said to me: `I hope you never have to go to war'.''

When Mr Watts turned 18, he was automatically enlisted in the British Army. He joined the Australian Army in 1951.

Mr Watts retired as a captain in 1977 and has lived in Liverpool for 42 years.

``We've got an awful lot of people in Liverpool who were involved in World War II and it's not just another date in the calendar for them,'' he said.

``They want to remember those who didn't make it back.''

The Liverpool RSL sub-branch which will hold a Remembrance Day service at the new war memorial in Bigge Park.

Meet at the John Edmondson Memorial Club at 10am.