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It's Remembrance Sunday in the UK.
There are parades up and down the country to remember our military heroes.For all those brave heroes, military and otherwise, who fought and died for the freedom I and my family enjoy today. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, each and everyone of you for what you gave and to your families who suffered your loss.
The Military Wives Choir – Wherever You Are
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ7f4lV3e0c
Wherever you are – Military Wives lyrics
In the UK , we also have Remembrance or Armistice Day which is officially at 11am on 11 Nov. In addition to this we have Remembrance Sunday held as close to the 11/11 as possible, where we have military parades and laying of poppy wreaths at cenotaphs or memorials to our war dead.
We observe a two minute silence at 11am on the 11/11 across the country in remembrance and respect to our fallen military. In addition to this we buy red poppys to wear on our lapels, coats, suits etc.. for this same reason, and the money collected is a recognised charity to assist surviving soldiers.
Here's our UK history –
Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day or Armistice Day) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries since the end of World War I to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. 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 end of hostilities of World War I on that date in 1918.
Hostilities formally ended “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month,” in accordance with the Armistice, signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente between 5:12 and 5:20 that morning. (“At the 11th hour” refers to the passing of the 11th hour, or 11:00 am) World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919.
The day was specifically dedicated by King George V on 7 November 1919 as a day of remembrance for 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 Initial or Very First Armistice Day was held at Buckingham Palace commencing with King George V hosting a “Banquet in Honour of the President of the French Republic” during the evening hours of November 10, 1919. The first official Armistice Day was subsequently held on the grounds of Buckingham Palace on the Morning of November 11, 1919. This would set the trend for a day of Remembrance for decades to come.
The red remembrance 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 spilled in the war.
In Flanders Fields
Flanders Poppy on the First World War battlefields.
by John McCrae, May 1915In 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.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.Thank you to all military personnel, past present and future who fight selflessly to ensure the freedom we have today and keeping me and mine safe.
Thank you to the soldiers who have paid the ultimate price of this freedom with their lives and to the families they left behind. You have my never ending gratitude and respect.Armistice Day (Remembrance Day) – 11th day, 11th month, 11th hour.
Armistice began at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month – the time in 1918 when The Great War, now referred to as World War I, ended with the signing of an armistice between Germany, the United States and the allied governments.
On the 11th hour (the armistice was signed in Paris and Central European Time Zone was employed) of the 11th day of the 11th month…the war that claimed the lives of over 8 and a half million was to end.
[img width=400]http://rattlergator.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c838c53ef0168ebe14f5f970c-pi[/img]
Wear your poppy with pride to remember our heroes in all conflicts.
This is one of the coolest pictures I have ever seen. The men on the right are about to paratroop into Normandy on D-Day, 1944. The men on the left are the very same group 70 years later. Even more amazing, they are on the same plane which carried them into battle.
God bless our heroes.
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