Remembrance Day, Lest We Forget

Remembrance day, Poppy Day or Veteran's Day depending on how you were raised... Brit or Yank.  The name Poppy Day came from this poem written during the Great War or World War I:

Remembrance Day, with the Remembrance service at Westminster Abbey, laying the wreath at the Cenotaph and annual Festival Of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall

 is supported everywhere, even on sports pitches, with moments of silence and red poppies... 

Remembrance Day... 11-11-11... eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.... from the day in 1918 when the documents were signed for the end of World War I...

which was thought to be the war to end all wars...

I wish it had been so...

On a blog post from 2014,I shared the Tower Of London installation commemorating Britain's entry into World War I. You can read about it HERE. It was finally finished...with 888,246 red ceramic poppies...the number of British casualties in the war...

The Times Online posted this photo of the Tower with the completed exhibit from the air, and a friend of mine is in London at the moment, visited the Tower and sent me this photo....

 Look at the way they poured from a window...the scope of it is truly amazing. Thank you, too, to all the veterans who have given so much for our freedom. Thank you. The poppies, which were made in Staffordshire potteries, were in place until Nov. 11 when they were be sold for 25 pounds each to raise funds for military charities, raising in excess of 12 million pounds.

The queen toured the exhibit at the Tower as will as hundreds of thousands. Versions have appeared at times throughtout the nation...

We Remember...

Remembrance Day photo 2018, by Marcia Gain photography

100 years since the day Britain went to war in 1914--Red Poppy Exhibit at the Tower Of London

Today marks the 100 anniversary of the day England entered the Great War, the war we know as World War I

In this photo from Getty Images, you see the red ceramic poppies that have been "planted" in the exhibit in honour of the centennial date of October 15, 1914 in the artist's installation by Paul Cummins called Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red.  The exhibit includes over 120,000 hand made ceramic poppies.  Here is the view from above the Tower Of London...

 

which so effectively looks like the spilled blood of the soldiers who gave their lives in what was supposed to be "The War To End All Wars"...

  

Poppy planting for the installation was visited by royalty like Prince William, Catherine and Prince Harry...

 

 and assisted...albeit ceremonially...by all branches of service. This photo is of 3 generations of Grenadier Guardsmen...the oldest now a Chelsea Pensioner, the middle now a Yeoman Warder at the Tower, popularly known as a Beefeater, and a present day Grenadier Guard. My husband was a Coldstream Guardsman, a brother regiment in the Queen's Brigade Of Guards.

To read my previous post about a Royal Albert Crown China commemorative teacups trio from 1914, click HERE

to read an account in the Mail Online about the installation with a video as well, click HERE

A day to remember with sorrow for loss...wish we could all learn from the terrible history of war....