In Remembrance…Veterans Day
Take a moment today to say thank you to the men and women who serve our country.
My first memory of Veterans Day, or Remembrance Day, as it was called in Canada, is going to downtown Windsor with my Grandmother to buy Poppy lapel pins. My grandmother lost a brother in the “Great War”. As we bought several poppies from a disabled veteran, she told me that
we wore the Poppy to remind us of how the Allies signed the Armistice that ended World War One at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918. After more than four years continuous warfare, the guns of the Western Front fell silent and our soldiers came home. Like my great uncle, some soldiers would never come home again and we wore a red poppy in memory of those who sacrificed their lives for us.
A poem called ‘For the Fallen’ is often read aloud during Veterans Day ceremonies; the most famous stanza of which reads:
They shall grow not 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 will remember them.
— Fourth stanza of ‘For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon (1869 – 1943)
Today, young men and women are once again called to serve their country. When you see a member of the service when you are out and about, introduce yourself and say thank you. Sometime today, take a moment to remember the fallen and those who love and miss them. No matter what your personal view of the current wars, I know each of us respect and support the wonderful men and women who selflessly serve our country.
We may no longer wear poppies, but each of us can take a moment to remember.
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