At 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918, the First World War came to an end. On this day every year Canadians everywhere pay tribute to those who never made it back home from battlefields in France and Belgium. Remembrance Day is known by different names in other countries. It's called Memorial Day in the United States and Poppy Day in South Africa. For many younger Canadians the big World War I battles such as Vimy, Ypres and Passchendaele will not be familiar, but it's important nonetheless to stop for a moment and consider what it meant to be a young soldier up to your hips in mud in No Man's Land, or fighting for your life in the trenches. Remembrance Day is also meant to honour Canadians who fought and died in the Second World War and the Korean War.
Every November most Canadians wear the bright crimson poppy on the lapels of their jackets. Adopted by the Great War Veterans Association in 1921, the flower is a symbol of courage, sacrifice and unity. The man most directly responsible for the adoption of the poppy was a Canadian named John McCrae, a medical officer in the Great War. He immortalized the poem In Flanders Fields, which we wrote in 1915. It first appeared in Punch magazine in Great Britain in December of that year. Here are his words:
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 Royal Canadian Legion sells replica poppies every November to raise money for Canada's veterans. Even though the carnage of both World Wars has long since ended, we shouldn't forget the Canadian troops who have been lost in Afghanistan and other peacekeeping operations around the world. It is a day of contemplation, speeches, ceremonies and sombre memories but also of happiness. The happiness comes from the realization that Canada is a peaceful nation, and the young men who fought overseas helped to make it that way.
** Poem taken from Veterans Affairs Canada.
Scott Hayden - Since joining Suite101 in early 2007, I've contributed articles about travel, history and health. My speciality is writing about workplace ...
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