How do different countries remember the victims of war

[Rugbyfan1972 1]

Hi,

 

I was in my local pub last night (Lancashire, England), and the talk got around to Armistice day as in the UK it is commemorated every 11th November at 11.00am with either a minutes silence, or in recent years a two minutes silence, which as you all know is when the First World War officially ended, and do other countries support it/remember the fallen of various wars. A couple of the people I was talking to were not sure if it is commemorated in other contries. So my question(s) are as follows.

 

Does your country have a day of remembrance, and if so could you please give the name, date and time of day that it is officially commemorated.?

 

I would like to expand the knowledge of these people as they were interested in the little information that I was able to give them. i.e. ANZAC day is the 15th April in Australia (and I think New Zealand, but if someone could confirm this I would be grateful), and the USA's version is called Veterans day and I think is on the 11th November.

 

Your assistance is much appreciated.

[Creaghorn 10]

in germany it's today.

 

here what i posted this morning here

 

http://combatace.com/topic/68840-volkstrauertag/

[Hasse Wind 46]

In Finland, there's the National Veterans' Day on April 27th. Additional celebrations and remembrance days are the Day of the Finnish Defense Forces on June 4th and the Independence Day on December 6th. The Independence Day is the most important one, because we've had to pay such a heavy price for our sovereignty.

[+JonathanRL 973]

In Sweden? Not at all.

 

In Sweden, a Veteran is often seen as a dumb brick, an idiot who loves to kill, a rambo-wannabe whos only purpose in life is to waste tax payer dollars by being in the military. The older generation, who endured the constription usually have alot more understanding, but even then, few understands why anyone volentary would want to go to a foreign land and do their duty. Of course, once they mate a name for themselfs, some of them are proud over their accomplishments, but even in Kosovo, there where harsh words over "Shootbat". Soldiers in uniform can also expect to be held accountable for US Foreign Policy. Why? Because we are in Afganistan. There is no respect for the men and women who have chosen the role as defenders. To thank a soldier for serving is seen as an oddity.

 

Worse yet is the military and the goverments lack of support.

 

Do you know it was only a few years back the Goverment and the Military activly started supporting veterans after leaving Veterans of Kongo, Gaza, Cyprus, Kosovo and Afganistan to fend for themselfs? Most of the work was done by small, volentary organisations. We completly lacked a veteran policy and I dare not guess how many shaken up veterans who have suffered because of it.

 

We finally got a Veterans day, but it remains largely ignored.

 

(Yes, I know I copy-pasted this alot, but there have been three different threads about it and I think its very important :P)

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

In the US we remember all our veterans on November 11, which until 1954 was called Armistice Day here as well. Since then it has been called Veterans Day. We also honor all those fallen soldiers on Memorial Day, which is the last Monday in May. This is the day when we have our community services at local cemeteries, place flags on the graves of those who served their country, and read Lincoln's 'Gettysburg Address', (and it still brings a tear to my eye after all the years I've attended such services and heard it read).

 

Jonathan, my country went through a similar period in the late 1960's into the 1970's, when our soldiers returning from service were treated like robots of the state, or idiots, or criminals, by large numbers of our younger population. I am glad the national mindset has changed somewhat towards those who are willing to give themselves in service to their country. I remember how I was treated by many of my civilian peers when I was in the US Air Force back then, and I would not want anyone to have to go through that again.

 

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[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I'm sure we all would wish to live in a world, where it was totally unnecessary to have a memorial day of any description...where the Armed Forces were merely sprites in a computer game...a distant memory of what Human Beings once were...(sigh)....that would be utopia...but, it doesn't exist...never has done..and I suspect..never will....Until then, we will continue to honour those that continue to Die..in the name of Freedom (which is also being eroded as we speak)

[Olham 164]

Yes - see Creaghorn's link above for Germany.

[Hasse Wind 46]

In Sweden? Not at all.

 

I'm sorry to hear that's the case. The Swedish volunteers who fought for Finland during WW2 are not forgotten here.

[von Baur 54]

I remember how I was treated by many of my civilian peers when I was in the US Air Force back then, and I would not want anyone to have to go through that again.

 

 

A big fat "ditto", Lou. I'm just thankful my son is in the Army now, and it was I who endured that period.

 

I wore my cammie shirt (still fits, barely ) for the first time since I got out in 1982, except for a couple of Hallowe'ens, to work on Friday, decorated with his unit's badge pinned to the lapel.

It's going to be standard every Veterans' Day for as long as he serves (Please pay no attention to the clutter behind the man behind the jump wings).

 

Jonathan, refer to my post in the "Last Post" thread and remind those who question the value of or need for a military force that, "All that's required for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing". A true hero isn't someone who stands up to those who threaten him and his family, the lowest form of life on the planet will do that. It's someone who who accepts the risk on behalf of people he doesn't know but need his help simply because he has the ability and believes it's the right thing to do.

 

(Dangit!! Somebody hide this soapbox.)

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

von Baur, my old flight jackt still fits as well, and also barely, (my youngest daughter had me put it on to snap this photo about five years ago):

 

 

 

 

I will take it out and wear it on Veterans Day and other occasional events, but other than that it sees the light of day no more.

[Typhoon 5]

In Canada we commemorate Rememberance Day on Nov. 11. In our town (Amherstburg) we have a parade from the local Legion to the Cenotaph. At 11:00 O'clock we have 2 minutes of silence, followed by the reading of the names of all the servicemen who did not return from WW1, WW2, and Korea. Wreaths are then laid, and then it is back to the Legion for lunch. Oddly enough the crowds seem to be increasing each year.

 

Tony

Edited November 13, 2011 by Typhoon

[Shiloh 12]

Lou already mentioned the way we honor veterans here in the states so I won't add anything there. Personally, if I see someone wearing a hat, insignia or something relating to their service I was always go up to them and shake their hand. I then thank them for their service. Just a month ago while walking through my town I noted a very old man with his wife and he was wearing a hat that signified that he won the Purple Heart. I asked him if he had won the Purple Heart and he told me he had fighting in Normandy in WWII. He hit a rough point where he broke down a bit talking about his friends that lost their lives and I put my arm around his shoulder and thanked him and his lost friends again for what they sacrificed for our country and told him that myself and my family (who were with me at the time) that we appreciate it. I think we should honor our veterans any day of the year. And this small token of appreciation goes a long way - I have experienced it many times over the years with my own eyes.

Edited November 13, 2011 by Shiloh

[Olham 164]

This picture in Creaghorn's "Volkstrauertag" post shows the WW1 memorial in my hometown Norden.

On "Volkstrauertag", a big wrath is placed in front of it.

 

http://combatace.com...post__p__534922

 

Here is another memorial - they are often not of the best artistic quality, or show the typical monumental soldiers

as sculptured by Nazi artist, but they are nevertheless memorials for the fallen of the Great War; most often they

show all the names of the fallen soldiers of that community.

Personally, I would prefer to show the figures without helmets - after all, when they had fallen, they became again

what they really were - not just soldiers, but human beings.

On the memorial in my hometown, the names were too many to place around the statue - they are on the walls

inside the bell tower.

 

 

Edited November 13, 2011 by Olham

[lederhosen 7]

Salute

 

funny living in Germany and reading in this forum that today is a sort of remembrance day.

 

 

Traditionaly 11.11 is the beginning of Karneval in Germany....with lots of past out bodies littering the city streets later in the night.

 

As an x-service member of the Canadian armed forces I was quite shocked the first time.

 

Led

[Olham 164]

Well, today is the 13. November, Lederhosen. Are you not German - with that very Bavarian name?

"Volkstrauertag" (national day of mourning) is alway two sundays before the 1. Advent.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

.

 

von Baur, my old flight jackt still fits as well, and also barely, (my youngest daughter had me put it on to snap this photo about five years ago):

 

 

 

 

I will take it out and wear it on Veterans Day and other occasional events, but other than that it sees the light of day no more.

 

I got a real shock when I saw the photo of you Lou!...You are the spitting image of my older brother!!!!

[lederhosen 7]

Lederhosen. Are you not German - with that very Bavarian name?

 

noooo.... canadian, just live here

 

 

 

Led

[themightysrc 5]

Well, over in Britain it's the usual combination of humbug and hypocrisy, as you'd expect, but also with people in their own locations commemorating their own.

 

I live in south Lancashire, and my wife's a councillor and attended the wreath laying ceremony at the cenotaph in the township she represents - as did, of course, people from a wide variety of other political parties, voluntary bodies and services.

 

It was the first time I'd been to such a ceremony, but I'm glad I went. The weather was cold but sunny, and people were scattered hither and yon up and down the road from the starting point (a pub car park where the brass band was assembled with the army cadets and air corps cadets) to the cenotaph. I was still a bit bemused about this, and wandered with my wife into the pub whose yard was the assembly point.

 

I think I've got it now.

 

The place was full to heaving with ex-service people, dignitaries, local politicos, friends, families, and the odd dipsomaniac - this is at 10.00 in the morning!

 

I was astounded that the entire ceremony was underlain - or fuelled - by beer, but the evidence of my own eyes (and my dropping a much needed and heat providing brandy at about 10.05) tells me otherwise.

 

It was, as it turns out, a quite lovely occasion, the Last Post was played, we observed the minute's silence and my dear wife placed a wreath on behalf of the Labour Party, so all was done properly. But it was, and I'm, as you know, very cynical, a rather pleasant occasion when the people of the local township actually turned out in fair numbers on a chilly Autumnal day, when they might otherwise have had other things to do. It was a form of bonding that's all too rare nowadays, and I rather liked that.

 

It was a weird insight into the day. I hadn't expected pubs to be full of old soldiers supping early doors, nor other attendees, but I thought, f*** it, if you can't do it now, after all that work, then when can you? The locals approve, clearly, and I'm in agreement with them. Everyone was dignified and the whole occasion went off extremely well (although I avoided the religious service at the end), and people left feeling that they'd done something which made a difference in their area.

 

That's more than good enough for me.

[Capitaine Vengeur 263]

My mother remembers that in her rural childhood (the Fifties), every November 11, the pupils of the village were gathered around the War memorial, one after another naming a dead, and a second one replying "Mort pour la France". Then salute, music, fuss, etc... I have never known such ceremonies in my own childhood. And I don't even think that nowadays French children, disorientated by Eurocratic politically correct teaching of History, know what November 11 means, safe for a public holiday.

 

The main visual remembrance of that war are the ubiquitous memorials, especially in small villages where they usually stand in the middle of the main square. They are especially touching in these small places, where one can sometimes find more names on the plaque than people staying in the village after the urban migrations. Some 30,000 of these monuments can be found everywhere in France, mostly erected within 1919-21, each village setting its own pride in having a nicer monument, with more names than the neighbouring village. As quoted in Bertrand Tavernier's "Life and nothing but", it was an incredible, miraculous market giving juicy contracts for years even to the poorest artists. When a statue is added to the monument, it is almost always a Poilu in light blue with helmet, even through about one third of the French deads wore képis and red trousers. But the long years of immobile muddy attrition, the hagiographic picture of the heroes of Verdun, are the most commonly remembered.

[Olham 164]

The main visual remembrance of that war are the ubiquitous memorials, especially in small villages where they usually stand in the middle of the main square.

They are especially touching in these small places, where one can sometimes find more names on the plaque than people staying in the village after the urban migrations.

I've seen many of them, when I travelled through France several times; you have beautiful villages.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

I got a real shock when I saw the photo of you Lou!...You are the spitting image of my older brother!!!!

 

Yes, well, those Vikings did get around quite a bit back in the day.

 

.

[Olham 164]

...as this historical photograph proves!

 

 

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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AAAAAAAAAH HAAA HAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAA!

 

Oh that's a keeper.

 

.

[Capitaine Vengeur 263]

...as this historical photograph proves!

 

 

 

It smells cowshed and unwashed drakkar just to watch !! Shampoo was certainly a marvellous invention...

[Olham 164]

...and I guess, anything to get rid of fleas must have been like a god-given mercy back then.

 

But of course they did not look like these figures from the German film for children "Wiki".

They actually seem to have had quite some decent culture; many of them lived more from trading;

and even those who went out for plundering tours, had often also some trading and farming going on.

The horns, as I read, were never attached to the helmet, but only lay left and right of one in an undug grave.

Nowadays it is assumed, that they were drinking horns.

 

Here is a picture from a "Wikinger-Fest" (Viking feast) near my hometown Norden. This might be more what they looked like.

 

 

 

The feast is celebrated every year, because the Ostfriesen were among the very few, who ever beat the Vikings.

They came to our coast with many "dragon boats", to take this area into their posession.

They were badly defeated; it is said that 10.000 of them were killed; the rest escaped and never came back.

 

http://www.wikinger-...on-nordendi.php

Edited November 15, 2011 by Olham