(It is important to support these people as we own them a lot. WEN) Mr Blair says: “It is important that we take some time each year to reflect for a moment on the ultimate sacrifice made on our behalf by all those who have lost their lives in warfare. 11th November provides us with that opportunity to remember the great courage they displayed and the contribution they made to provide us with the freedoms we enjoy today. They must never be forgotten and we honour their memory by keeping the Two Minute Silence.”
Please support the Poppy Appeal: http://www.poppy.org.uk/ How the Poppy Appeal began Canadian doctor John McCrae was serving in Flanders with the Canadian Armed Forces when, having seen the poppy survive the bloody conflicts in northern France, he wrote his 1915 poem In Flanders’ Fields. 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 dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders’ fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe; To you from failing hands 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. Moina Michael, an American War Secretary with the YMCA, was moved by this poem to buy poppies with money collected from her work colleagues, and sold them to friends to raise funds for ex-Servicemen. Her French colleague, Madame Guerin, suggested the sale of artificial poppies to the Legion in August 1921 in order to help the ex-Service community in Britain. The first donations for artificial poppies were given in Britain on 11 November 1921, raising £106,000 – an equivalent spending power of more than £3.1million in today’s terms, a huge sum for the time. Major George Howson, a young infantry officer, had formed the Disabled Society to help disabled ex-Service people from World War One. Howson suggested to the Legion that Society members should make poppies, and the artificial flowers were designed so that someone who had lost the use of a hand could assemble them with one hand – a principle that has endured. This suggestion led to the foundation of the Poppy Factory at Richmond, Surrey, in 1922, where poppies are still made today. ******************************************************* 08-Nov-2002 SILENCE THROUGHOUT THE LAND, SEA AND AIR Across the nation, more than 45 million people - in airports and buses, in law courts and football clubs, at railway stations and banks, radio and television stations, in superstores, schools and colleges and those at home - are expected to fall silent for two minutes at 11am on Armistice Day, Monday 11th November. The Two Minute Silence marks the moment the guns fell silent at the end of the First World War - the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. It is a moment to remember all those who have given their lives for their country in the conflicts of the last century and in the early years of this new millennium. The Royal British Legion, which has long campaigned to have the Silence reinstated in the national calendar, is delighted that what is by far the biggest annual spontaneous demonstration of public support for any cause in the country will continue this year - and on a working day. “We are proud to have led a strong resurgence in observance of the Two Minute Silence over the last eight years,” a spokesman says. “Remembrance is being taken more and more seriously and the Silence has introduced a poignant annual moment of reflection into people’s lives. Indeed, independent research commissioned by the Legion revealed that 92 per cent of adults think that Remembrance events and observing the Two Minute Silence should be an important and permanent feature in the life of the nation. “Ninety-one per cent of those in the 16 to 24 age bracket agreed with this sentiment - demonstrating that Remembrance is felt to be as important by younger people as by the older generations. It suggests strong support for Remembrance in the future.” The Prime Minister’s Message The Prime Minister has expressed his support for the Two Minute Silence on the 11th November. In a message to the Legion, Mr Blair says: “It is important that we take some time each year to reflect for a moment on the ultimate sacrifice made on our behalf by all those who have lost their lives in warfare. 11th November provides us with that opportunity to remember the great courage they displayed and the contribution they made to provide us with the freedoms we enjoy today. They must never be forgotten and we honour their memory by keeping the Two Minute Silence.” Court Rooms, Companies and Customers join the Silence The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, has invited all courts to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day by having a Two Minute Silence observed in courtrooms and offices throughout England and Wales. In broadcast media, the BBC will lead the way across both television and radio, providing the cue for silent reflection, wherever people may be, as time signals sound 11 o’clock. Independent television and radio networks the length and breadth of the country will also be marking the Silence. More than 100 major companies will join the nationwide silence by encouraging staff and visitors to take part. They include such household names as: Abbey National, Asda, Barclays Bank, Cadbury Schweppes, Consignia, Dixon Group, Euro Tunnel, Imperial Tobacco, Kodak, MFI Next, Powergen, Railtrack, Safeway, Sainsbury’s, Severn Trent Water, Tesco, WPP Group and the Yorkshire Building Society. Local Authorities declare their support Nearly 300 local authorities throughout the land have declared their support for the Two Minute Silence. Councils throughout the United Kingdom will be halting meetings. And, many will signal the start and end of the Silence by firing maroon rockets, by bugle call, by sounding fire alarms and by making announcements over their public address systems. MOMENT OF REFLECTION ON LAND, SEA AND AIR The Two Minutes Silence is being observed by people from all walks of life … on land, sea and in the air. In Hampshire, the officers and crew of Her Majesty's Customs Cutter “Sentinel” - a 34 metre Island Class vessel, one of fleet of seven which patrol UK waters intercepting other vessels and protecting society - will mark the Silence in a special ceremony in the middle of the Solent. Sentinel’s engines will be turned off while the men observe the Silence. Then a special wreath in memory of those who died in conflict will be placed on the waters. In London, the British Airways London Eye will stop in mid flight at 10.55am to mark the Silence. David Sharpe, the General Manager of the London Eye and and young member staff will stand in silence in a pod at the top of the Eye remembering the sacrifice of those who died in conflict. The British Airways Poppy Plane, a Boeing 757, bearing the image of the Poppy and the message “Pause to Remember” on its fuselage to commemorate Remembrance officially took to the air today. It will continue to fly throughout the month of November. At Manchester Airport’s three terminals, all aircraft movement will stop and staff and those passing through the airport will be invited to observe the silence. At the same time, a Service of Remembrance will be held at the four Regimental Commemorative Stones near Terminal One with representatives of the Airborne Forces, the Glider Pilots’ Regiment, Polish Airborne forces and 613 (City of Manchester) Squadron RAAF in attendance. A trumpeter from GM Police will sound the Last Post and Reveille. Ian Townsend, Secretary General of The Royal British Legion, said: “We are very pleased so many people consider that the 11th November and the Two Minute Silence to be important both personally and nationally. As the nation’s de facto custodian of Remembrance, we will always support the traditional Remembrance Sunday services and silences. But we believe that when 11th November falls on days other than Remembrance Sunday, Remembrance should be brought into the everyday life of the nation on those days as well. The Two Minute Silence is a moving annual moment of reflection in our otherwise busy lives which allows us to remember the high price paid for the freedoms we enjoy today.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- About the poem: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.com/flanders.htm McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is the story of the making of that poem: Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime. As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men -- Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans -- in the Ypres salient. It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it: "I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done." One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae's dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain. The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l'Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry. In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook. A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. "His face was very tired but calm as we wrote," Allinson recalled. "He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave." When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read: "The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene." In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915. Thanks to Mack Welford for reminding me of this great poem. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- In London alone, around 100 unemployed ex-Service people sleep rough each night, with another 500 living in hostels for the homeless. Today, the UK's men and women continue to serve their country, in the Falklands, the Gulf, Rwanda, Bosnia , Kosovo, Northern Ireland and now in Afghanistan. They need to know that The Royal British Legion will be there to help them when they need it most. The Legion provides help to the ex-Service community on a number of different fronts. We provide accommodation in seven care homes, as well as three homes dedicated to providing much needed breaks for those recovering from illness or bereavement. We also answer over 300,000 urgent calls for help each year. Our work ranges from emotional support for someone coming to terms with the loss of a loved one, financial help for a family struggling to make ends meet, or rehabilitation and advice for ex-Service men and women starting life as a civilian with the scars of their wartime efforts. But often it is the little bits of kindness that we provide on a regular basis that can make all the difference. Like welfare advice, or friendship visits to an isolated or disabled ex-Service person. Without your help we won't be able to respond to all these requests and provide the support that makes the lives of these individuals more bearable. Please help us in our work with a gift of £20, or whatever you can afford now. http://www.poppy.org.uk/ IWS INFOCON Mailing List @ IWS - The Information Warfare Site http://www.iwar.org.uk
