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Remembrance Sunday is the day traditionally
put aside to remember all those who have given their lives
for the peace and freedom that we enjoy today. On this day,
people right across the nation pause to reflect on the sacrifices
made by our brave Servicemen and women.
In Northern Ireland there are many services of Remembrance
in Churches and at Cenotaphs.
Whilst all the services remember all the conflicts in the
same way as the National Service in London, there is how ever
particular emphasis on the sacrifice given by many, whilst
serving as members of Her Majesty's Forces during the period
more commonly known as the Troubles.
The National Service of Remembrance takes place at the Cenotaph
in Whitehall London. Her Majesty The Queen lays a large poppy
wreath on behalf of the Nation and is accompanied by members
of the Royal Household, along with representatives of the
armed forces, veterans, politicians, community volunteers
and youth organisations.
This service in London ensures that no one is forgotten.
Originally conceived as a commemoration of the war dead of
the First World War, but after the Second World War the scope
of the ceremony was extended to focus on the nation's dead
of both World Wars. In 1980 it was widened once again to extend
the remembrance of all who have suffered and died in conflict
in the service of their country and all those who mourn them.
The One Minute Silence
The central element of Remembrance Day ceremonies is the
one-minute silence.
A Melbourne journalist, Edward George Honey, first proposed
a period of silence for national remembrance in a letter published
in the London Evening News on 8 May 1919.
The suggestion came to the attention of King George V. After
testing the practicality of five minutes silence, a trial
was held with five Grenadier Guardsmen standing to attention
for the silence. The King issued a proclamation on 7 November
1919, which called for a two-minute silence. His proclamation
requested that "all locomotion should cease, so that,
in perfect stillness, the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated
on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead".
Why Wear the Poppy
In May 1915 Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of
the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps was working in a dressing
station on the front line to the north of Ypres, Belgium,
when he wrote " In Flanders Fields."
In 1918 Moira Michael, an American, wrote a
poem in reply, We shall keep the faith, in which she promised
to wear a poppy 'in honour of our dead' and so began the tradition
of wearing a poppy in remembrance.
It was French YMCA Secretary, Madame Guerin,
who in 1918 conceived the idea of selling silk poppies to
help needy soldiers.
Poppies were first sold in England on Armistice
Day in 1921 by members of the British Legion to raise money
for those who had been incapacitated by the war.
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
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