11-11-11 Remembrance Day - They Shall Not Grow Old

"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.

Today is Remembrance Day also known as Poppy Day or, as it was originally titled, Armistice Day.  Armistice Day was created after WWI as a specific reference to the day (and actually hour, 11:00 AM, November 11th) when the guns were laid down across the bloodied battlefields of the Western Front and the Great War finally ceased. After WWII the day evolved to become Remembrance Day  to include all those who were sacrificed in military conflict.

I found it curious that although the day is to remember  all wars and conflicts, the BBC "presenters" (broadcasters) all announced the story (a little paraphrased) as follows:


 "The top story of the day, is of course, Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of WWI where we remember all the brave men who died on the Western Front".


Although WWII is still the bloodiest war in history, it was WWI (always referred to as "The Great War" here) that forever and dramatically changed centuries old social and economic traditions and way of life. Of course, much has been written academically on the subject of the legacy of WWI but I think it can be seen in real everyday life in subtle, everyday ways.


Official parades and observances are held on "Remembrance Sunday," the second Sunday in November closest to the 11th, but many still hold personal memorials on the 11th hour of the 11th day of November.  I was asked to attend a private ceremony with one of our new friends , Pat, whom we met at our local pub. Her husband served in the Welsh  Brigade and was awarded several medals, which she wears proudly on this day.


The BBC broadcast ceremonies from Westminster Abbey and I was really drawn in as I watched the emotion of the proceedings. This year was especially poignant because of the death of five British soldiers in Afghanistan this past week and because this was the first Remembrance Day without a representative from WWI, the last three veterans having died earlier this year.


The Queen led the ceremonies with a biblical passage (and yes, Billy, she wore a well-cut, lavender suit with a matching hat, very appropriate for the occasion).  The Archbishop of Canterbury followed with a thoughtful and slightly provocative lecture on war and its effect on faith and the faithful. 


 The timing of speakers was impeccable, at the exact second of the end the official Remembrance Day poem (see above for the most famous verse), Big Ben struck eleven and two full minutes of silence were observed throughout the country. In Britain, for these two minutes, everything must stop, including trains and all traffic.  Historically it was enforced by law but it was concluded to be too expensive to support.   


The below is an excerpt of newspaper report of the first two minute silence and I thought it quite moving:

The First Two Minute Silence in London (11th November 1919) as reported in the Manchester Guardian, 12th November 1919.


'The first stroke of eleven produced a magical effect.  The tram cars glided into stillness, motors ceased to cough and fume, and stopped dead, and the mighty-limbed dray horses hunched back upon their loads and stopped also, seeming to do it of their own volition.  Someone took off his hat, and with a nervous hesitancy the rest of the men bowed their heads also. Here and there an old soldier could be detected slipping unconsciously into the posture of 'attention'. An elderly woman, not far away, wiped her eyes, and the man beside her looked white and stern. Everyone stood very still ... The hush deepened. It had spread over the whole city and become so pronounced as to impress one with a sense of audibility. It was a silence which was almost pain ... And the spirit of memory brooded over it all.'

I found myself having a new appreciation of the magnitude and history behind the day. The BBC has  provided many insightful and accessible documentaries throughout the month.  Also, our new pub friends, most of them well into their 80's, not only have poignant family stories of WWI but also lived in the thick of WWII and have incredible stories of life during the war.

One of our friends related his boyhood experience of  living in London during the German Blitz:

"They came every night, every single night, it just never stopped (unless it was very bad weather"). "People got use to it".  "You would go out the next morning and walk into shop and there would be 20 dead bodies lying about". My father was an Oxford man but all I wanted to do when I came of age was to join the forces".

He did join the Royal Air Force and spent 26 years, achieving a Senior Captain rank. When Winston Churchill died, he was one of the watchmen who guarded his casket during its time of laying in state.

(By the way, these types of discussions are a frequent topic all the time, not just during Remembrance Day).


Having been in NYC on 9/11 (and having just missed being in the World Trade Center) I have a certain sympathy for the strained experience of living in a virtual war zone and amazed that they lived in it for years.

Another interesting aspect of Remembrance Day is the poppy badge. Like in the US, it is tradition to wear a poppy during the month of November.  However, I don't recall ever hearing heated discussions about proper poppy wearing like I have heard here. Poppy wearing was a featured topic in every BBC morning show. 


A popular call-in TV talk show that prides itself on its provocative subjects (think early Phil Donahue) devoted an entire segment to raging debate about the poor poppy. People were phoning and texting from all over Britain complaining about it being worn too early, on the wrong side, with the leaf pointing in the wrong directions  arguing about what was proper and why etc, etc.  I didn't even remember it having a leaf.


Incidentally, Scottish poppies, botanically, have four petals and no leaves therefore the Scottish are relieved of the pressure to make sure it is in proper position.  Ideas of sewing a leaf on the poppies were suggested, but it in true Scottish fashion, it was deemed too expensive. 


FYI, from what I could gather, proper poppy protocol is: men, over the left, on the heart, women over the right, which is where she would place her husbands medals. The stem ALWAYS points to 11:00.


For anyone interested, the following is the actual history of the poppy emblem.

" In World War One the Western Front contained in the soil thousands of poppy seeds, all lying dormant. They would have lain there for years more, but the battles being fought there churned up the soil so much that the poppies bloomed like never before. The most famous bloom of poppies in the war was in Ypres, a town in Flanders, Belgium, which was crucial to the Allied defence. There were three battles there, but it was the second, which was calamitous to the allies since it heralded the first use of the new chlorine gas the Germans were experimenting with, which brought forth the poppies in greatest abundance, and inspired the Canadian soldier, Major John McCrae, to write his most famous poem. This, in turn, inspired the British Legion to adopt the poppy as their emblem."

In Flanders Fields

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. 

John McCrae (1872 - 1918)