A Celebration of Women

honors all those that have Fallen in honor… lest we ne’re forget.

 

Remembrance Day

 

 

November 11

Memorial celebrated in the Commonwealth Countries

 

 

Observance in the Commonwealth

• Australia
• Barbados
• Bermuda
• Canada
• New Zealand
• South Africa
• United Kingdom
  • Northern Ireland

Observance in other Countries

• France & Belgium
• Germany
• Hong Kong
• Italy
• Ireland
• The Netherlands
• Poland
• United States

 

Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day, Armistice Day or Veterans Day) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries to remember the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and civilians in times of war, specifically since the First World War.

 

 

Remembrance I

Wind curls the pennants at the cenotaph
A fitful wind
It pokes along the ranks of fresh-cheeked soldiers
Tugs at the ribbons of veterans
And comes to fret
Around the paper poppy on my breast
Seeming curious why one warrior stands so silently apart
Wind
Wreath-scented
In a peaceful land
Mellow in the autumn air
Yesterday another wind spoke other ways
Not of you my land
The living
The hope of the living
The vague hushed fragrances of memory
But of the certain dead
And those who heard them at Bernieres
And Caen
And Anthem
As they fell
Who have smelled the smell of death?
Who have heard exploding steel expend itself in flesh?
Who have felt primeval fear grind pride into the dust
Or the muck
Writhing and creeping as we have writhed and crept?
Who torn Earth with fainting fingers
In retreat of self and the sudden raking guns?
So far from all of this!
The wind of yesterday engraved
A harsher requiem
In us
More than a remembering for us
For us a not forgetting
A solitude that some winds bring
On quiet days
On peaceful days
On undefended shores of night
A requiem

– Author Unknown  

 

 

This day, or alternative dates, are also recognised as special days for war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth countries.

Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the official end of World War I on that date in 1918, as the major hostilities of World War I were formally ended “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month” of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.

   

(Note that “at the 11th hour”, refers to the passing of the 11th hour, or 11:00 am.) 

The day was specifically dedicated by King George V, on 7 November 1919, to the observance of members of the armed forces who were killed during World War I. This was possibly done upon the suggestion of Edward George Honey to Wellesley Tudor Pole, who established two ceremonial periods of remembrance based on events in 1917.

The red poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem In Flanders Fields. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red colour an appropriate symbol for the blood spilt in the war.

 

In Flanders Fields

 

 

 

The poem, as printed in In Flanders Fields and Other Poems

 

 

 

 

 

An autograph copy of the poem from the same book

 

 

The first chapter of In Flanders Fields and Other Poems (a 1919 collection of poems by John McCrae)

gives the text of the poem as follows:

 

 

“In Flanders fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

 

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

 

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”

 

-John McCrae, 1919.

 

 

An autographed copy of the poem (reproduced at the start of this same book) uses grow (instead of blow) in the first line. The book includes a note seeking to explain the discrepancy by saying “This was probably written from memory”.

 

 

 

Canadians Military and Security Studies

 

	2009 Military and Security Studies Download PDF [6MB]
	Studies in Canadian Military History Series The Studies in Canadian Military History Series is published in association with the Canadian War Museum

 

A REMEMBRANCE DAY VIDEO for schools (also VETERANS DAY) CANADIAN SOLDIER TRIBUTE VIDEO 2011 with Rare Exclusive HD Dieppe & D-Day actual World War Two Film Footage & AFGHANISTAN Battle Footage. Showing the history of the Canadian Forces from WW1 to present day. Used for ceremonies and high school assemblies during Veterans Week in Canada. A tribute to all Canadian soldiers. We will never forget!

Features actual film footage and photos from Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Dieppe, Ortona, Normandy, Korea and Afghanistan. Helmand Province.

Edited by Jonathan Wagner.
http://www.wagnermedia.ca

Use this video in your upcoming 11/11/11 ceremony. Please do not copy this video or re-upload it. If you use it, I only ask that you give me credit. Thank you.

To use this video for a school ceremony or educational presentation, please email me at [email protected]

Please view my other videos about Canadian high school students travelling through Europe on a commemorative battlefield tour. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5648C4F5C9B194E7&feature=viewall

 

 

A Celebration of Women

sends our love and respect to all the Fallen; and hope for the families left behind.  

  

 Rest in Peace, One & All.