Remembrance day why is it important

Remembrance Day: What's it like growing up in a military family? Remembrance Day: Why it's important. Look back at Remembrance Day events These comments are now closed. We want your thoughts on COP How you can help garden wildlife this winter. Should the number of dislikes on YouTube videos be hidden? Home Menu. Remembrance Day: What is it? Poppies are worn by millions as a symbol to remember all of the people who have given their lives for their country in war. How is Remembrance Day marked?

PA Media. In Liverpool, 1st Battalion of The Duke Of Lancaster's Regiment marched through the streets before the city observed the two-minute silence at People holding poppy wreaths paused to observe a two-minute silence at the Cenotaph in London.

All over the UK, people fell silent, including England manager Gareth Southgate alongside his players. More like this. Remembrance Day: Why it's important 8 Nov 8 November Look back at Remembrance Day events 11 Nov 11 November Show more. Your Comments Join the conversation.

Remembrance Day ceremonies were usually held at community cenotaphs and war memorials, or sometimes at schools or in other public places. Two minutes of silence, the playing of the Last Post , the recitation of In Flanders Fields , and the wearing of poppies quickly became associated with the ceremony. Remembrance Day has since gone through periods of intense observation and periodic decline.

The 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in marked a noticeable upsurge of public interest, which has not ebbed in recent years.

They included new recruits as well as Veterans from the previous war. Along with various army units, the navy and the air force provided vital support and endured months of hardship in the hope of maintaining world peace.

Since the end of the overt hostilities in Korea some 60 years ago, Canadian soldiers have come to play a different, yet essential, role on the world stage. Our commitment and skills as peacekeepers has gained Canada respect and influence the world over. For all of these conflicts fought in far-off lands, there is much to remember. Foremost are the people, the men and women who served wherever they were needed.

They faced difficult situations bravely and brought honour to themselves, to their loved ones and to their country. They were ordinary Canadians who made extraordinary sacrifices.

Nursing Sisters of No. Formal records tell us about the size and strength of armies, military strategy, and the outcome of battles. Such information is vital, yet to fully appreciate military history we must try to understand the human face of war. Loss of comrades, extreme living conditions, intense training, fear, as well as mental, spiritual and physical hardship helps illuminate what the individual sailor, soldier and airman experienced in battle.

As approximately tonnes of chlorine gas drifted over the trenches, Canadian troops held their line and stopped the German advance in spite of enormous casualties.

Within 48 hours at Ypres and St. Julien, a third of the Canadians were killed. One of those who survived described the aftermath of a dreaded gas attack:. The room was filled with dying and badly wounded men; trampled straw and dirty dressings lay about in pools of blood. The air, rank with the fumes of gas, was thick with the dust of flying plaster and broken brick, and stifling with the smoke from the burning thatch.

Using outdated 19th century military strategy, Allied generals believed that sending wave after wave of infantry would eventually overwhelm the enemy. Soaring casualty rates proved that soldiers attacking with rifles and bayonets were no match for German machine guns. Each side dug in and soon the Western Front became a patchwork of trenches in France and Belgium stretching from Switzerland to the North Sea.

In April , Canadians helped turn the tide of battle when they won a major victory at Vimy Ridge. This triumph came at high cost: more than ten thousand casualties in six days. Even with this victory, the war continued for more than a year. Finally, on November 11, , the Armistice was signed and the Canadians took part in the triumphant entry into Mons, Belgium.

Throughout this conflict, Canadians proved that they could pull their weight, and by their effort earned for Canada a new place among the nations of the world. During the Second World War, Canadians fought valiantly on battlefronts around the world.

More than one million men and women enlisted in the navy, the army and the air force. They were prepared to face any ordeal for the sake of freedom. When the war was over, more than 42, had given their lives.

On the home front as well, Canadians were active as munitions workers, as civil defence workers, as members of voluntary service organizations, and as ordinary citizens doing their part for the war effort. In December , Canadian soldiers were participants in the unsuccessful defence of Hong Kong against the Japanese; were wounded and were killed in battle or at the hands of the Japanese as prisoners-of-war POWs.

The situation faced by the Canadian POWs was horrible; they laboured long hours and were given very little to eat. The daily diet was rice—a handful for each prisoner. Occasionally, a concoction of scavenged potato peelings, carrot tops and buttercups was brewed.

The effect was obvious:. Sidney Skelton watched the calorie-a-day diet shrink his body from to 89 pounds.

And whenever a group of prisoners could bribe a guard into giving them a piece of bread , they used a ruler to ensure everyone got an equal share. Canadians played a leading role on the European front. The people who stayed in Canada also served—in factories, in voluntary service organizations, wherever they were needed. Yet for many of us, war is a phenomenon seen through the lens of a television camera or a journalist's account of fighting in distant parts of the world.

Our closest physical and emotional experience may be the discovery of wartime memorabilia in a family attic. But even items such as photographs, uniform badges, medals, and diaries can seem vague and unconnected to the life of their owner.

For those of us born during peacetime, all wars seem far removed from our daily lives. We often take for granted our Canadian values and institutions, our freedom to participate in cultural and political events, and our right to live under a government of our choice.