Hey Blog! This last Sunday was Remembrance Day, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to tell you what it is and what it’s about.
The story starts some time in 1918. World War I is raging; countless battles have been fought, and millions lie dead in Europe. The blockade on Axis Germany by the Allied Powers (the UK, France, and the USA, which was recently brought into the war) is holding, and there are growing calls for an end to the violence. Riots start; hyperinflation goes crazy, and the soldiers on the Front are angry for fighting a hopeless war. Eventually, some military chiefs decide to intervene, and, without the Kaiser (German equivalent to King, derived from Roman Caesar), settle an end – to stop fighting at 11, 11, 11. The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. This armistice and subsequent treaties which hoped to put a stop to violence, calling it “the war to end all wars”, brought to an end a four-year conflict which had spread from one assassination to a global, full-scale, devastating and deadly war. Ultimately, this did not succeed, and within the framework of the treaties set up after the war were the seeds of an even greater conflict, where a new enemy – fascism – would cause the greatest war in history. But WWI’s end was still a blessing for the world, which was reeling from the cost, in all aspects of life and society, of the Great War.
In memory of the armistice, Armistice Day was set up, an annual repeat of the first one in 1918 when all celebrated the end of the war. This evolved into a day of remembrance for all conflicts, past and present, and specifically for those who died during them. Traditionally, the Last Post is played, poems are read, and the two minute silence is held, signalling respect for those who fell. Poppies are worn – this comes from two poems which mention poppies, which were common flowers along the
Western Front; but in France people apparently wear cornflowers!
The ceremony closest to me is attended by local dignities, representatives of the military, youth organisations like Cadets, Scouts, and Guides, and the public. I go to it as part of Explorers, which is the best place to stand because you get to see everything as you’re both close to the middle and tall, and then the older sections, me included, march round to the church for a service. After that it’s a short march round the town and back to the Memorial Gardens, after which the congregated attendees dissipate back home. It’s a very poignant time, which is important to remember – this is the only knowledge we have, and my generation will likely be the last which can talk to those with living memory of the world wars, and should it be forgotten there is nothing which will remind us to prevent another. Lest We Forget.