Remembering the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month...

Location : Portsmouth, England

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

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.

From me, just one word: thanks.

Admin Location : Haute Normandie - visitors welcome

It's a public hoilday here and in many other countries.
Armistice day.

We (when I was in green...) used to take part in a march every year in Ypres Belgium.
Although heavily destroyed in the first war it was never taken, a fact which people are proud of to this day.

Remembering the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month... A_troo10

Remembering the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month... A_troo10

The railways played acrucial role as well.

I remember reading in the Cloth Hall museum the account of the Kings Liverpool Regiment at the 3rd battle of Ypres at Passchendaele.

'The battallions went to the front line on the afternoon train and the bodies came back on the evening train' - 90% casualties.

.........................................................................

During one of our marches at Ypres in which we we training for Nijmegen (another war story there...) we rose early one misty morning to make good our advance on the onerous 40km we had to endure that day.

This was not to everyone's liking and I (grumpy sergeant) insisted that all of the squadron section should sing.
As it was so early we sang low and softly as we reached the famous Passchendaele woods where we continued at a lively pace through the heavy low spring mist with several renditions of 'It's a long way to Tipperary', 'Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner' and other evocative military style chants.

When reaching a main road crossing to our concern the police we wating for us along with a mystified group of bemused locals who had reported seeing just the heads of ghostly soldiers 'floating' along in the trees 'drifting' above the 'gas'......

I was proud to have served and contributed even in such an insignificant way.
'Chief blanket stacker and counter of bedpans, olive drab for the use of.'

Location : Vienne, France and Islington. London

The UK has returned to the tradition of marking the 11th hour of the 11th day, rather than just doing it all on the following Sunday. I have just returned from our simple ceremony where we observe the two minutes silence on the steps of our Town Hall and the police stop the traffic on Upper Street. For the first time in years I will be missing Rememberance Sunday when we walk from the Town Hall to our war memorial behind veterans and contingents from the TA, cadets, scouts and so on. This has got bigger in recent years. I'll be wearing my poppy at Villebon instead.

Christian Wolmar has just published his latest book Engines of War which covers the whole history of the role of railways in warfare.

Location : Deep in the Heart of Texas (Houston)

I never fully appreciated "In Flanders Fields" until my first visit to Ypres (Wipers, as the Tommies called it) and the surrounding areas in 1988. I also recall the museum in the lankenhalle.

In 1954, we changed the day from Armistice Day to Veterans Day, honoring not only the dead from the first world war, but all veterans of military service. In 1971, the federal public holiday was moved from 11/11 to the second monday in November, mainly to give government employees a long weekend. Many states however kept the observance on 11/11, and in 1978, the public holiday was returned to 11/11.

The official observance occurs each November 11 at 11:00 with the laying of a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery, usually by the President. This year, since POTUS is in the ROK, VP Joe Biden did the honors, hopefully without one of his usually verbal gaffes.

Location : North Wales

KleineDicke wrote:: I never fully appreciated "In Flanders Fields" until my first visit to Ypres (Wipers, as the Tommies called it) and the surrounding areas in 1988. I also recall the museum in the lankenhalle.

In 1954, we changed the day from Armistice Day to Veterans Day, honoring not only the dead from the first world war, but all veterans of military service. In 1971, the federal public holiday was moved from 11/11 to the second monday in November, mainly to give government employees a long weekend. Many states however kept the observance on 11/11, and in 1978, the public holiday was returned to 11/11.

The official observance occurs each November 11 at 11:00 with the laying of a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery, usually by the President. This year, since POTUS is in the ROK, VP Joe Biden did the honors, hopefully without one of his usually verbal gaffes.

Evening my Father was in the Kings Liverpool and was wounded at Arras in the first War, My son and I have been visiting the areas in 2009/2010 . We here in North Wales do not have a holiday on the 11th but a small service is held, we had a big turn out on Sunday more then we get, I was on traffic control as a member of the Tidy Team as the Police do not take part here. but after the trouble I had from drivers I won't be doing it again as I don't think we have the authorty to stop anyone Les