This date was declared a national holiday in many allied nations, to commemorate members of the armed forces who were killed during war. After World War II the name was changed to Veterans Day in the United States and to Remembrance Day in countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Armistice Day remains an official holiday in France. It is also an official holiday in Belgium, known also as the Day of Peace in the Flanders Fields.
Nobody celebrates the beginning of hostilities. But when peace is finally achieved (or, at least, the end of a given conflict), it is a cause to commemorate. And to remember.
The following poem, written by a surviving veteran of WW1, was inspired by the poppies that spontaneously grew on the disturbed soil of the battlefields. Hence the scarlet poppy came to symbolize the blood and sacrifice of those who fought and died.
Those in the Armed Forces deserve our respect. While there are many reasons for enlisting: some noble; some of necessity; some for adventure, these are the people who put their life on the line to serve our nation. While we may disagree about any given conflict, that is not the soldier's doing. Their ambition is to serve in the cause of good, not evil.
Our job is to try to make sure those are the only causes for which they are sent into harm's way. And to honor and respect those who serve on our behalf.
In Flanders Fields
By John McCrae 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
Celebrate Peace.
Every Day - work toward Peace, honor the dead, respect the living.
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