Lest We Forget

Nov 11

Remembrance Day. Poppy Day. Armistice Day.

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. At 5 a.m. that morning, Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France.

11/11 Now is considered a memorial day since the end of World War I, to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty.

The day was specifically dedicated by King George V on 7 November 1919 as a day of remembrance 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.

 

It is called Poppy Day as well, due to the poem “In Flanders Fields” wrote by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I.

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
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…”