The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Armistice. This date marks the cease fire on the Western Front of World War I, 90 years ago.
Called Armistice Day in many countries, after World War II the name of the holiday was changed to Veterans Day in the United States and to Remembrance Day in the British Commonwealth. Armistice Day remains an official holiday in France and Belgium.
Remembrance Day in the UK is held on the nearest Sunday and generally known as Remembrance Sunday. A two-minute silence is observed at 11:00 am, but increasingly the two minute silence is also observed on 11 November.
Here dead we lie
Because we did not choose
To live and shame the land
From which we sprung.
Life, to be sure,
Is nothing much to lose,
But young men think it is,
And we were young.
~A E Housman
Because we did not choose
To live and shame the land
From which we sprung.
Life, to be sure,
Is nothing much to lose,
But young men think it is,
And we were young.
~A E Housman
Photo from Flickr/Redvers.
5,923 graves at Hooge, of which the majority, 3,579, are of unidentified soldiers.
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Isn't strange to read about the two major world wide wars and how they lost thier life just because of stupidity and narrow thinking politicians?
ReplyDeleteI know they were definding their homeland and can't blame them however just wondering!
It's the first time I heard of this day.
ReplyDeleteIn Singapore, we don't have such remembrance day even though we went through a Japanese Occupation.
Just like EastCoastLife, it is the first time I am hearing this. I remembered when I was young, I like to play with toy soldiers, planes and tanks just like any other boys; it was a great deal of fun. It took me many years to realize that war can never be associated with the word 'fun' at all. And all the more I am grateful for the peace that we are enjoying.
ReplyDelete@Hicham, it's the politicians who make the decisions and the ordinary people who suffer the most.
ReplyDelete@ECL and BK, that surprises me that you haven't heard of 11 November as a remembrance day, because I had thought it was a fairly universally observed occasion. Obviously I was wrong. Do you have a similar thing on another day I wonder?
Here in Australia, we too had a few minutes of silence in the morning. It's a big deal, even though Australians weren't involved in some of the more "publicised" skirmishes.
ReplyDeleteLest we forget...