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2010-11-11

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Posted by Steve White 2010-11-11 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [11132 views ] Top

#1 Also remember that for weeks after the armistice, US troops fought the Red Army in Russia in the first fight of the Cold War.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-11-11 00:39|| 2010-11-11 00:39|| Front Page Top

#2 Two Minutes of Silence and Poppies

The Two Minutes of Silence was started by Sir James Percy Fitzpatrick. He was born in King William's Town in 1862 and died in Uitenhage in 1931, eldest son of James Coleman Fitzpatrick, judge of the Supreme Court of the Cape Colony, and Jenny Fitzgerald, both from Ireland. The couple had 4 children: Nugent, Alan, Oliver, and Cecily.

Our own Tannie Mossie (Joan Abrahams of Bloemfontein) wrote a well-researched book in the 1990s about this. Time from Africa - A two minute silent pause to remember - 11:00 on the 11th of the 11th month.

It shows the tradition started off in Cape Town with the noon gun on Signal Hill. It was the idea of Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, author of Jock of the Bushveld. Joan's book also shows the correct silence - one minute for one person and two minutes (for more than one person - one minute for the dead and one minute for the survivors).

In 1916, Sir Percy attended a church service in Cape Town and a moment of silence was held for dead soldiers. When he heard that 11 November 1918 was going to be observed as Armistice Day in London, he asked for a two minute silence throughout the British Empire as a tribute to dead soldiers.

Sir Percy's son, Percy Nugent George, was a Major in the Union Defence Force. He was killed in France in 1917.

Major P.N.G. Fitzpatrick
South African Heavy Artillery, 71st Siege Battery
Died 14 Dec 1917, age 28
Born in Johannesburg.
Volunteered on 04 Aug 1914 and served in the Rand Rebellion and German South
West Africa with the Imperial Light Horse.
Buried at Red Cross Corner Cemetery, Beugny

Sir Harry Hands, then mayor of Cape Town, and councillor R.R. Bryden, already observed a moment of silence after the firing of the noon gun was started. Sir Percy's suggestion was taken up and a two minute silence was held in Cape Town on 14 December 1918, a year after Nugent's death. Cape Town became the first city in the world to observe the two minute silence.

WWI ended on 11 Nov 1918 with the guns stopped on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. This is why 11 Nov was chosen in 1919 as the day to remember war dead.

At first, it was known as Armistice Day (armistice meaning an agreement between enemies to stop fighting). Now it is mostly known as Remembrance Day or Poppy Day.

The poppy story goes back to 1915 when a Canadian soldier, serving as a doctor, John McCrae, was working in France. He wrote a poem that year about the poppies growing on the graves of dead soldiers: In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row... John McCrae died of meningitis later in 1918.

An American poet, Moina Michael, read the poem and bought poppies to give to friends. She also sold poppies and gave the money to needy ex-soldiers. Eventually the Americans had women in war-ravaged France sewing artificial poppies and the money raised went to war survivors.

In Britain, former soldiers faced another battle - getting on with life. Ex-servicemen's societies united in 1921 to form the British Legion, to provide support to ex-servicemen, especially the disabled, and their families.

A French woman involved in the artificial poppy sewing project in France suggested that the British Legion sell the poppies to raise money. The British Legion signed on and 1.5 million poppies were ordered for 11 Nov 1921. The first Poppy Appeal made £106,000. The British Legion set up its own poppy sewing project, using disabled ex-servicemen. By the end of the 20th century, the British Legion was selling over 32 million poppies per annum.

Poppies were chosen not only because of the poem, but also because they were the only flowers that grew abundantly on the battlefields. They also only bloom for a short time, just like the young men and women killed in wars.

Posted by Besoeker 2010-11-11 06:03|| 2010-11-11 06:03|| Front Page Top

#3 And a happy UDI Day for the few that remember.

Posted by Besoeker 2010-11-11 06:20|| 2010-11-11 06:20|| Front Page Top

#4 a prayer for the fallen and all who have served honorably defending our freedom and security

Posted by Frank G 2010-11-11 07:41|| 2010-11-11 07:41|| Front Page Top

#5 This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

- William Shakespeare, Henry V - Act 4, Scene 3

Posted by Procopius2k 2010-11-11 08:22|| 2010-11-11 08:22|| Front Page Top

#6 I'll be at a Symphony Club lunch at eleven o'clock. They start every meeting by saying the Pledge to the flag, so I imagine we'll be silent for those two minutes -- normally an impossible task except while the musicians are performing.

Posted by trailing wife 2010-11-11 09:11|| 2010-11-11 09:11|| Front Page Top

#7 Anguger: Thanks for posting the link to that polar bear site. My great uncle (who I knew well) was one. I have some memorabilia that would be of interest for anyone who is interested in this part of WWI.

Posted by penguin 2010-11-11 10:59|| 2010-11-11 10:59|| Front Page Top

#8 In Flanders Fields

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

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.

Posted by Steve White 2010-11-11 11:24|| 2010-11-11 11:24|| Front Page Top

#9 My own reminiscence about the great-uncle we never knew, killed on the Somme in 1916 -- at my literary-support blog, here.

Posted by Sgt.Mom 2010-11-11 11:56|| http://www.celiahayes.com 2010-11-11 11:56|| Front Page Top

#10 Meanwhile, where is the Commander-in-Chief?
( you all have NO idea how hard it was to type that)

Thank you Vets, past and present.

Posted by USN, Ret. 2010-11-11 14:28|| 2010-11-11 14:28|| Front Page Top

#11 VP Joseph Biden (D-PlugzTooDeep), did the Arlington ceremony today. Beautiful day, military looked sharp, yet there was an annoying whistle, even during "Taps". I finally realized it was the breeze blowing through Slow Joe's ears

Posted by Frank G 2010-11-11 16:38|| 2010-11-11 16:38|| Front Page Top

#12 #3/. Thanks, china.

Posted by Rhodesiafever 2010-11-11 17:53|| 2010-11-11 17:53|| Front Page Top

#13 They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Posted by Creper Borgia9792 2010-11-11 21:00|| 2010-11-11 21:00|| Front Page Top

#14 A posted a bit about Flanders (more specifically, Ypres) last Spring, but it's appropriate reading for today:

http://platytera.blogspot.com/2010/04/bloody-wipers.html

And there's also this rock'n'roll treatment of the elegaic poem, In Flanders Fields:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqSejdRvevc

the words vary a bit from the original, and are online.

Posted by kkollwitz 2010-11-11 21:04|| http://platytera.blogspot.com/ 2010-11-11 21:04|| Front Page Top

#15 My paternal grandfather was sent to Europe in 1918, and arrived on October 12th, 1918. He returned to the US on August 14, 1919, with never having heard a weapon fired in anger. He was a private, and a mule-skinner.

Posted by Old Patriot 2010-11-11 23:18|| 2010-11-11 23:18|| Front Page Top

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