How Do We Remember ?
On November 11th, we wear poppies, pause for 2 minutes of silent tribute, and on Remembrance Sunday we attend Remembrance Services and commemorative ceremonies in memory of our war dead. War memorials can also be seen today in almost every town and village in Britain. They carry the names of local men who died in war.
The Cenotaph, Portsmouth
Flanders is the name of the whole western part of Belgium. It saw some of the intensive fighting of the First World War. The only thing that survived the complete devastation of this area was the poppy flowering each year and this was seen as new hope to those who were still fighting.
During the intense fighting of the second Battle of Ypres in 1915, Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a doctor serving with the Canadian Armed Forces, wrote:
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.
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.
The flowers and the larks are reminders of nature’s ability to defy the horrors of war by man, a symbol of hope during a time of terrible human suffering.
Throughout the world poppies are worn as the symbol of remembrance, a reminder of the flower that still grows on the former battlefields of Belgium and France. The wearing of the poppy began when an American, Moira Micheal read the poem “In Flanders Fields” and was so moved by it, she wrote a response and always wore a poppy:
And now the Torch and Poppy red
We wear in honour of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields
We shall keep faith
It was a French lady, Madame Guerin, who in 1918 thought of the idea of selling artificial poppies to help needy soldiers and this began the tradition of wearing a poppy. In 1921, The Royal British Legion was formed with the first Poppy Day being held in the November of that year. It was a national success raising £106.00, which was a lot of money in those days.
In Britain, disabled ex-servicemen make the poppies that we wear. Over the year they make over 34 million poppies, 5 million remembrance petals, 750,000 Remembrance crosses and nearly 100,000 wreathes including those laid by Her Majesty the Queen and other members of the Royal Family.
The two
minutes at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of
the eleventh month
marks the signing of the Armistice, on 11th November 1918; to signal the end of World War One. The two minutes recall World War One and World War Two; before 1945 the silence was for one minute.
In Britain, although two minutes’ silence is observed on November 11th itself, the main observance is on the second Sunday of November, Remembrance Day. Ceremonies are held at local communities’ War Memorials, usually organised by local branches of the Royal British Legion. Typically poppy wreaths are laid. A trumpeter or bugler plays “The Last Post”. In military life, “The Last Post” marks the end of the day and the final farewell. Two minutes’ silence is then observed and broken by a trumpeter playing “Rouse”. A minute’s or two minutes’ silence is also frequently incorporated into church services on that day. The main commemoration is held in Whitehall in central London, where the Queen, Prime Minister, and other senior political and military figures join with ex-servicemen to lay wreaths at the Cenotaph.
A poem called `For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon (1869 –1943) is often read aloud during the ceremony; the most famous stanza of which:
They shall not grow old, as we that are left to grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Over the years, Remembrance Sunday has been expanded to include those who lost their lives whilst serving our country in recent conflicts as a staggering 16,000 British servicemen and women have died on duty since the Second World War.
For these brave men and women, there is much to remember as they served their country wherever they were needed like in The Falklands War.
During her recent stop in the Falkland Islands, some members of HMS Endurance’s Ship’s Company took time to remember the fallen of the conflict of 1982. One of the Ship’s Lynx helicopters visited the HMS COVENTRY memorial on Pebble Island.
HMS COVENTRY was trying to cover the northern approaches to San Carlos when she was sunk on the 25 May 1982, with the loss of 19 lives.
Lt Matt Boulind who was with Lt Lee Evans and Sub Lt Ben Dando, polishing the memorial to the fallen on Pebble Island.
Sub Lt Ben Dando pays his respects
This year Remembrance Sunday will fall on 12th November. The crew of HMS Endurance like millions of other people around the Commonwealth will attend a Remembrance Sunday Service
Remembrance Day Service on HMS Endurance 2005
Some of those attending the service have lost friends and comrades in The Falklands War, The Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq so it will be an important occasion for them.
Help us to honour the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for us all and wear your poppy with pride.
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Remembrance Day Navigation
Introduction
About Remembrance Day
Why Remember ?
How Do We Remember ? <<
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