Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day is a solemn day in the UK honoring the end of World War I and all veterans who have died in battle. It is observed on November 11, as the hostilities ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

This statue honoring the Durham Light Infantry is in the Durham Market Square in front of City Hall.

The solemnity of the day is described by the clip below from the 1983 Peanuts special, “What have we learned, Charlie Brown?”

As mentioned in the video, the poppy was memorialized in the poem “In Flanders Fields” written by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae:

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.

Individuals wear poppies as a tribute to those who died in battle.

Thank you to all our veterans!