Remembrance Day

Remembrance

The Oxford Dictionary defines Remembrance as:

1. The action of remembering something.

2. The action of remembering the dead.

3. A memory or recollection of something from the past.

The End of the Great WarOn the 11th November 1918 at 11am the Armistice was signed which brought to an end the First World War.

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Remembrance DayThe eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

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Acts of RemembranceWays we remember:

• Poppies

• Wreathes

• Cenotaph

• War Memorials

• 2 Minutes Silence at 11am

• ‘Field of Remembrance’

• Parades

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The PoppyA Symbol of Remembrance.

The Battlefield

Poppies were the only thing to grow in the war damaged fields of the First World War.

© IWM (HU 99912G)

Lt Col John McCrae1872 – 1918

Lt Col John McCrae was a Canadian Doctor on the front line during World War 1.

Following the death of his friend at the second battle of Ypres in 1915, John McCrae wrote in pencil on a page torn from his despatch book the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’.

In 1915, he was stationed in Flanders, Belgium.

In Flanders FieldsIn Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween 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 agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lieIn Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe! To you from failing hands we throwThe torch; be yours to hold it high!

If ye break faith with us who dieWe shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Moina Michael1869 – 1944

Moina Michael was an American Teacher. She visited Europe in 1914 and was in Germany when WW1 broke out.

In November 1918, she was inspired by Lt Col John McCrae’s poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ and wrote a response called ‘We Shall Keep The Faith’.

We Shall Keep The FaithOh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,

Sleep sweet - to rise anew!We caught the torch you threw

And holding high, we keep the FaithWith All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy redThat grows on fields where valor led;

It seems to signal to the skiesThat blood of heroes never dies,

But lends a lustre to the redOf the flower that blooms above the dead

In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy RedWe wear in honor of our dead.

Fear not that ye have died for naught;We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought

In Flanders Fields.

The Last Post‘Last Post’ is a bugle call played in ceremonies commemorating the war dead.

‘Last Post’ is normally played to signal the beginning of a two minute silence.

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Rouse and Reveille

To mark the end of a two minute silence one of two bugle calls are played, either ‘Reveille’ or ‘The Rouse’.

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Two minute SilenceA two minutes silence is a time for silent reflection.

‘Last Post’www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDS3TxtGaQ0© MOD Crown Copyright

‘Last Post’ and ‘Rouse’www.youtube.com/watch?v=2weDBlOTgmo(pause at 1.22 after Last Post, Rouse starts 1.24)

‘Reveille’ www.youtube.com/watch?v=_peXjzFQ2_c www.defenceimagery.mod.uk (45152061)

Poems of RemembranceAs part of the service for Remembrance two well known poems are read.

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For The FallenBy Laurence Binyon

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old, Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn, At the going down of the sun, and in the morning We shall remember them.

The EpitaphBy John Maxwell Edmonds

When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today.

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