Please remember - today is Veteran's Day

teriwtt
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:49:05 +0000

For the past couple of weeks, in offices and shopping areas, veterans have been selling poppies and it’s rare to see anyone in the city without one on their lapel at this time of year. I know that each year there are fewer and fewer WWII vets who participate. The origin of this tradition is John MacRae’s poem, In Flanders Field…

…All businesses, schools, and even our entire transit system will stop for two minutes of silence today at 11 a.m. Our Prime Minister will be joined by Prince Charles in the ceremony at the National War Memorial. All of our government offices and banks are closed today.



This is exactly what happened in the U.K. today. We happened to be at Stonehenge at 11AM, and they made an announcement over public address system that everyone honor two minutes of silence. Just outside of Westminster Abbey, there is an erected ‘Field of Remembrance’, thousands and thousands of small wooden crosses and Stars of David, with names written on each one, with a poppy attached. I’ve seen many, many people in London with the red poppies attached to their lapels since I’ve been here. There was a ceremony on Sunday at Whitehall where supposedly the queen laid a wreath at a tomb(?), but I was in Vienna for a few days. But before leaving for Vienna, I was walking around London (down by Trafalgar Square/Buckingham Palace) and accidentally chanced upon the rehearsal by royal military, including the music, marching, etc. (they only omitted the speeches), and got a chance to watch it very close up. It was very cool, and I’m sure I saw much more than if I’d been here on Sunday to see it live.