NOVEMBER 11 every year marks an important traditional anniversary that should be celebrated throughout the world. This sacred day is known as Remembrance Day. This day is observed by the public as a day filled with sorrow to mourn the loss of soldiers who died in World Wars I and II. Remembrance Day is the official name but it is also popularly known as Poppy day and Armistice Day.
Students have been decorating their hats, bags, pants, shirts, ties, etc., with the special red poppies because of being unaware that only one poppy should be worn and what it signifies and represents.

Red poppies are for the blood shed that was caused from the First World War and are declared a sign of remembrance towards the soldiers that risked their lives and died by patriotism towards their country, America. There is even a poem that is entitled: “In Flanders field” which was written by Canadian Physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae and is popularly believed to have been written on 3 May, 1915 after he witnessed the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, 22years old, the day before. The poem was first published that same year December 8 and it is recited yearly by students in most countries in memory of our fallen soldiers. This is how the poem goes:

In Flanders Field
By John McCrae
(1872-1918)
Ontario Canada

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 drawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from falling hard 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

When I was a small girl growing up in Canada at Corsair Elementary School, we used to have a special assembly on Remembrance Day each year by reciting this poem and by keeping a minute of silence in respect for the fallen soldiers.

World Wars I, II, battles that resulted in blood bath and III (The Cold War), were important to World Peace. Surprisingly, we have been studying these wars in POL 315: Introduction to International Affairs and I decided this year to write a bit on World War I and how it relates to Remembrance Day.
World Wars I and II is the reason why people recognise Remembrance Day. World War I (1914-1918) started when a Serbian nationalist assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in 1914 in Sarajevo, a minor crisis escalated and then mobilized plans that pushed Europe to all-out war.
Disaster struck Britain, in Belgium, losing 400,000 men on a failed ground attack. Russia was the first state to crumble and a revolution at home removed Russia from the War in 1917 which led to the founding of the Soviet Union. How it ended was that the German signed a document called the Armistice, on the 11th hour of the 11th month on the 11th day.
The day was specifically dedicated by King George V on the 7th day of November 1919. Red poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders field in World War I, their brilliant red colour an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war.
This year it’s 11/11/11. We need to learn to respect the dead and be caring human beings. Let’s End Wars! Vote for World Peace.