Remembrance Day: Britain to honor its defenders Published Oct. 19, 2007 By the RAF Mildenhall Community Relations Adviser's Office 100th Air Refueling Wing RAF MILDENHALL, England -- There are few, if any, ceremonies celebrated throughout the United Kingdom as sincerely as Remembrance Sunday. It's the day when the whole nation pays tribute to those who have died in battle. The armistice which ended World War I in 1918 was signed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year. At that same time each year, two minutes of silence are observed throughout the country, and Team Mildenhall will be observing those two minutes along with the rest of the country. The national Remembrance Day commemorations are held on the Sunday nearest to Nov. 11, and this year the date falls on Sunday. Services will be held throughout the U.K., both in churches and at war memorials. The brilliant red poppies that we'll see for sale during the next two weeks came to represent the carnage of war after the fields of Flanders burst into scarlet bloom during the summer of 1915, on land nourished by the spilled blood of soldiers. It was a Canadian, one Col. John McCrae, who was responsible for making the poppy the symbol of Remembrance Day. Before the outbreak of World War I, he was a well-known Professor of Medicine at McGill University, Montreal. Having previously joined the brotherhood of arms as a gunner in the South African war, he decided to join the fighting ranks at the outbreak of World War I. His superiors decided his expertise could be put to better use, and he was sent to the battlefields of France, as a medical officer with the first Canadian Army contingent. When the second battle of Ypres took place in 1915, he was in charge of a small first-aid post. During a lull in the action, he wrote in pencil on a page torn from his dispatch book, a poem which begins: "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." Moina Michael, an American, read the poem in 'Punch' magazine in 1919, and conceived the idea of making, selling, and wearing poppies in memory of those lost during the conflict. Today the Royal British Legion Poppy Factory employs former servicemen and women to make the millions of poppies, thousands of wreaths, and hundreds of thousands of Remembrance crosses used in the annual poppy appeal. The money goes to give practical help to all men and women who have served in our armed forces, and also to their widows and dependent children. The first poppy appeal, launched in 1921, raised 106,000 pounds. Last year it brought in 18 million pounds, which was used to help more than a 100,000 people. Ninety-two pence out of every pound raised goes directly to those who need it. A nationally-televised Remembrance Service at the Cenotaph (a Greek word meaning 'an empty tomb') War Memorial in Whitehall, London, near Westminster Abbey will be held Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. Wreaths will be laid by the Royal Family, and on behalf of the British government, Commonwealth governments, the Armed Services, the Merchant Navy, the fishing fleets, and other civilian services. In addition, Nov. 10, the televised Festival of Remembrance will be held in Albert Hall. Attended by The Queen and members of her family will attend, and others taking part include men and women from all three armed services. Following the displays, bands, and pageantry, the evening draws to a close with the sounding of the Last Post. In the silence that follows, a few red poppy petals drift down from the domed ceiling and flutter slowly to the floor. The few gradually become dozens, then hundreds, then thousands, falling thickly in the silence to cover the bent heads of those who stand beneath. Editor's note: Information for this article was compiled from: www.britishlegion.org.uk (Photo copyright Jupiter Images/Liquid Library) For more information, contact Vicky Stayton, RAF Mildenhall community relations adviser at DSN 238-2254.