# Lest We Forget -- November 11th **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 9, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031 "2002-11-09T16:30:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eidolon909](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce7236/32.png) [@Eidolon909](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eidolon909)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/1 "2002-11-09T16:30:15Z")
November 11th is Remembrance Day in Canada to mark the sacrifice of the men and women who gave up their lives in the service of their nation. In Flanders Fields, By John McCrae 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. If you live in Canada, please remember to wear a poppy and observe the minute of silence. ---
**Author:** ![Kwyjibo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@Kwyjibo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kwyjibo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/2 "2002-11-09T16:33:05Z")
Well done pal. I just bought another poppy last night. Paid 5 bucks for it and loved it. I have 2 others from this year on the visor in my car and another 2 from 2001 and 2000. They are there all year round. Like most of us I am sure, we have all lost family members in the war and they should never be forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/3 "2002-11-09T16:48:51Z")
I don’t know of anyone related to me that was lost in wars. Perhaps there were some, but I don’t know. But thousands and millions of people, young and old, lived and dies in trenches and airplanes and the icy North Atlantic for years on end. Maybe I didn’t lose any family members, but who knows what kind of wonderful people didn’t make it through that war. I have a few people in my life who are important to me… the thought of them, or me, going through that, or being destroyed by a bullet or bomb is unbelievable. Who knows what people might exist today if they or their ancestors hadn’t been killed in those conflicts. It’s difficult to imagine what it was like… It’s difficult, too, to believe that the War to End All Wars… didn’t. Thank heavens I don’t have to live in times like that. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/4 "2002-11-09T20:16:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eidolon909 \* > November 11th is Remembrance Day in Canada to mark the sacrifice of the men and women who gave up their lives in the service of their nation. In America, it’s called Veteran’s Day to honor those who _did_ come home. We honor those who did not on Memorial Day in May. > [@](#): > > Q. What is the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day? > > A. Many people confuse Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle. > > While those who died are also remembered on Veterans Day, Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor ALL those who served honorably in the military - in wartime or peacetime. In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank LIVING veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to our national security are appreciated, and to underscore the fact that all those who served - not only those who died - have sacrificed and done their duty. A complete history of Veterans Day, and why it is observed on November 11, can be found on our Veterans Day History Web page. See [http://www.va.gov/vetsday/page.cfm?pg=11](http://www.va.gov/vetsday/page.cfm?pg=11) In any case, I like this comment, too: > [@](#): > > On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month we, the people of Australia, stand and observe two minutes’ silence for our war dead - and those missing in action, during World War I. We pause to remember their supreme sacrifices - carried out to keep this great nation free and at liberty from any invading forces. > > And we remember the return of the body of the “Unknown Soldier” laid to rest in the Canberra War Memorial, typifying all those who also rest in unmarked graves wherever they may be. We remember the Anzac heroes as well - and those who were left behind in World Way II, Tobruck, New Guinea, Phillipines, Timor etc. > > And to another hero of war THE BREAKER MORANT - whose bones will be returned to Australia. Source: [http://www.ozbird.com/remembranceday.htm](http://www.ozbird.com/remembranceday.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/5 "2002-11-11T05:07:07Z")
As always, Lynn Johnston hits just the right note in [For Better and For Worse](http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archive/02_11/1110.htm). ---
**Author:** ![2beersplease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/839c29/32.png) [@2beersplease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2beersplease)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/6 "2002-11-11T06:08:28Z")
It’s rememberance day today here in Australia too. I always thought that the quote “Lest we forget” was an Australian one but that’s okay…I thought wrong. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/7 "2002-11-11T06:34:38Z")
“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.” Lest we forget. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/8 "2002-11-11T10:50:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Northern Piper \* > \*\*As always, Lynn Johnston hits just the right note in [For Better and For Worse](http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archive/02_11/1110.htm). \*\* Aye. I miss Charles Schulz’ annual strip with Snoopy talking about The War on his way to quaff root beers with [Bill Maudlin](http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ARTmauldin.htm) From [The U.S. Embassy in Sweden](http://www.usis.usemb.se/Holidays/celebrate/Veterans.html) > [@](#): > > In 1918, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month, the world rejoiced and celebrated. After four years of bitter war, the Allied powers a signed a cease-fire agreement (an armistice) with Germany at Rethondes, France on November 11, 1918, bringing World War I to a close. The “war to end all wars” was over. > > November 11, 1919 was set aside as Armistice Day in the United States, to remember the sacrifices that men and women made during World War I in order to ensure a lasting peace. On Armistice Day, soldiers who survived the war marched in a parade through their home towns. Politicians and veteran officers gave speeches and held ceremonies of thanks for the peace they had won. > > Armistice Day officially received its name in the United States in 1926 through a Congressional resolution. It became a national holiday 12 years later. Congress voted Armistice Day a federal holiday in 1938, 20 years after the war ended. But Americans realized that the previous war would not be the last one. World War II began the following year and nations great and small again participated in a bloody struggle. After the Second World War, Armistice Day continued to be observed on November 11. > > In 1953 townspeople in Emporia, Kansas called the holiday Veterans’ Day in gratitude to the veterans in their town. Soon after, Congress passed a bill introduced by a Kansas congressman renaming the federal holiday to Veterans’ Day. Beginning in 1954, the United States designated November 11 as Veterans Day to honor veterans of all U.S. wars. 1971 President Nixon declared it a federal holiday on the second Monday in November. > > Americans still give thanks for peace on Veterans’ Day. There are ceremonies and speeches and at 11:00 in the morning, most Americans observe a moment of silence, remembering those who fought for peace. > > After the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, the emphasis on holiday activities has shifted. There are fewer military parades and ceremonies. Veterans gather at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. to place gifts and stand quiet vigil at the names of their friends and relatives who fell in the Vietnam War. Families who have lost sons and daughters in wars turn their thoughts more toward peace and the avoidance of future wars. > > Veterans of military service have organized support groups such as the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. On Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day, these groups raise funds for their charitable activities by selling paper poppies made by disabled veterans. This bright red wildflower became a symbol of World War I after a bloody battle in a field of poppies called Flanders Field in Belgium. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/9 "2002-11-11T11:22:10Z")
I attended part of an Armistice Day remembrance here in Auckland, got a bit teary eyed at the lowering of the flag to the sound of the lone bugle at the eleventh hour. And got a tad annoyed that traffic still drove right past, including noisy buses, when the side-street could have been closed off for the duration of the service. Voices couldn’t be heard above the din of a present that couldn’t seem to care to allow one brief moment of sad recollection and reinforcement of hope. All a bit sad, really. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/10 "2002-11-11T11:35:52Z")
I don’t think we younger people have any idea of the sacrifices that were made in our name. Could our generation(s) do it again? I don’t know. For an insight into quite how horrific things were at the Somme (amongst other places), I recommend _Birdsong_ by Sebastian Faulks. ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/11 "2002-11-11T11:45:12Z")
My granddad fought in WWII and my nan lost two brothers. I watched the Remembrance Day parade yesterday and got teary-eyed like I always do. **jjimm** , I think you’re right - we have no idea how much we owe to those generations that fought. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Clawman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@The\_Clawman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Clawman)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/12 "2002-11-11T12:16:43Z")
Two minutes impeccably observed in my very large open plan office, mostly staffed by younger people. I think that there is some revival of interest in the two World Wars, movies such as Saving Private Ryan, Schindlers List, and TV shows like Band of Brothers contributing to this along with some wonderful books (Faulkes “Birdsong” and Beevors “Stalingrad” top my list). This is a good thing. For anyone who hasn’t read it before [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23572) thread is the most moving I’ve seen on this board. ---
**Author:** ![TelcontarStorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@TelcontarStorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TelcontarStorm)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/13 "2002-11-11T14:13:21Z")
Thanks guys and gals. We owe you more than we can repay. We see you and hope you are the last to go to arm. Our hopes rest in you who serve now. I doff my hat to you now, and forever. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/14 "2002-11-11T15:22:08Z")
Not 11:00 here yet. I’ll observe the two minutes in… 55 minutes. I have two poppies this year- one green centred, and the other black centred. I just sent a copy of Flanders Fields to a bunch of American friends. Incidentally, I live up the street from John McCrae’s grandniece. Remembrance Day always gives me _Rilla Of Ingleside_ flashbacks. I just found the bit where Susan salutes the flag. _she went out and ran up the flag, for the first time since the fall of Jerusalem. As it caught the breeze and swelled gallantly above her, Susan lifted her hand and saluted it… “We’ve all given something to keep you flying,” she said, “Four hundred thousand of our boys gone overseas- fifty thousand of them killed. But- you are worth it!”_ That whole book always gives me unusually strong feelings of patriotism. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/15 "2002-11-11T16:14:50Z")
Ireland doesn’t officially do anything on 11/11 due to our history with the UK etc. However many Irishmen died with the rest of the world fighting in the 2 great wars and many more as part of UN peacekeeping actions. [Here’s](http://gofree.indigo.ie/~mattcom/flanders4.htm) a page about some of them. > [@](#): > > On the morning of 1st June 1917 the tunnels with 1,700,000 Lbs of high explosives were detonated under the Germans. This was followed by an attack by both the 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) Divisions, who, for the first time, fought and died together, side by side, all problems in Ireland left to one side. How sad. Slán boys. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/16 "2002-11-11T20:58:53Z")
Living in a country that was mostly liberated by Canadian troops, how can I not wholeheartedly second the OP? I quite literally owe my life to these guys. If any Canadian poster has a relative who was part of the liberation, tell them this. Tell them, that there’s a thriving, multi-cultural nation of 16 million people, far away by the North Sea, that would not have been the same without them. Tell them, that they are not forgotten. That there’s a beer with their name on it waiting in every old bar in Amsterdam. [Heroes.](http://www.humboldt.edu/~rescuers/book/Strobos/TinaPix/Sliberation1.gif) **Clawman** , thanks for linking to the May 5 thread. It has some wonderful, yet heartbreaking stories in it. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/17 "2002-11-12T04:18:27Z")
Oh wow. I thought this was a joke at first. You know, a spoof on September 11th. Guess it’s me with the sick sense of humor then. Anyway this thread has been illuminating for me- I hadn’t really recognized the difference between Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day- it’s just one of those things you never really think about. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/18 "2002-11-12T09:08:39Z")
**Coldy** , my uncle was in the South Saskatchewan Regiment - did they help in the Netherlands? He’s now in his 80s and still kicking, as is his Cockney war bride. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2002, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lest-we-forget-november-11th/136031/19 "2002-11-12T09:25:28Z")
Yes they DID help liberate the Netherlands, NP! [This site](http://cap.estevan.sk.ca/ssr/photos/drobinson.html) has some pictures of the South Saskatchewan Regiment in action in the Netherlands. He brought a Cockney home when he could have had a Cloggie? 😃 Anyways, shake the mans hand for me, will ya? He’s a hero in my book.