Remembering

Today is Remembrance Day when services and ceremonies will be held around the country at war memorials in cities, towns and villages to commemorate those who have fallen in war. Similar services will be held around the Commonwealth and in other places.

At eleven o’clock, the nation will once again observe a two-minute silence to honour the dead. After this, wreaths of poppies will be laid to memorialise and symbolise the blood spilt in war; that flower being a reminder of the poppies that bloomed across some of the battlefields in WWI.

The Queen will lead the nation by laying the first wreath at the Cenotaph in London. She will be followed by many representatives of various organisations, including those of the armed services. Afterwards there will be the familiar parades, including those of veterans.

People of my generation who were born towards the end of or after WWII have much to be thankful for. We were not directly affected by war except when parents or relatives were killed or injured in them.

As I said the other day, those who gave up their lives did so to keep this country free. Regardless of whatever anyone else feels about war, I for one will be watching the ceremony at the Cenotaph and will observe the two-minute silence.

It will be the least I can do to remember those who gave up their lives for their country.
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A Dishonour

Millions of Britons stopped what they were doing yesterday to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day. They stopped at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in remembrance of the day in 1918 which signalled the end of the First World War.

That solemn two minute silence honours the dead of all wars and it will be repeated when the Queen leads the nation at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.

Yesterday, a small group of protesters burned a model of a poppy in Exhibition Road, South Kensington. Some held placards saying BRITISH SOLDIERS BURN IN HELL.

These same people forget that our soldiers gave their lives to preserve what is still thankfully a free country.

What, I wonder, would happen if these same people returned to their own countries of origin to protest about the happenings there?
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