November 10th, 2008:

Today marks the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War, “The War to End All Wars”.  This was a heart-felt wish of a war-ravaged world, a world that had just witnessed a bloodshed on a scale never seen before.

Poppy Appeal

The past couple of years have seen a steady thinning of the World War One survivors ranks.  Thankfully, this has not meant that the commemoration has been forgotten.  The BBC will televise the two minute silence [^] at the London Cenotaph to commemorate the anniversary.  Leading the country will be Britain’s remaining three veterans: Henry Allingham, Harry Patch and William Stone.

Some have claimed that the days like Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day, and ANZAC Day are a celebration of this horror.  This over looks the intention of these days, a remembrance of those who lost their lives in the service of their country, and the loss suffered by their families.  It is worth remembering that:

“Without their sacrifice the world would be a very different place today and we might not have the freedoms that we take for granted today.”

UK Veterans Minister, Tom Watson. [^]

Remembrance Day has since widened it’s scope to commemorate the sacrifices of all conflicts since 1914 up to the present day.

The least that any of us can do is buy a poppy [^] and observe the two minute silence on the the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

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.

Lt.-Col. John McCrae – “In Flanders Fields”