Service to remember those who gave their lives in war |04 November 2010

Veterans and representatives from the services in Seychelles and the Commonwealth community will be in attendance.

The British High Commission said November 11 is a day of remembrance throughout Commonwealth countries, to honour the many people who have lost their lives in war and mark the day that the first world war ended in 1918 when “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month” Germany signed the Armistice.

It was a year later, in 1919, that King George V dedicated the day to members of the armed forces who were killed during the war, and it has since become known as Remembrance Day.

The poppy was adopted in 1921 by Field Marshal Douglas Haig as a symbol of Remembrance Day, poppies having flowered across the worst of Europe’s battlefields.

Haig was a founder of the Royal British Legion, which every year sells poppies to raise money for ex-servicemen and women.

It is also customary to observe a two-minute silence at 11am on Remembrance Sunday (and on the 11th itself if it falls on a weekday) and to lay wreaths of poppies at war memorials and graves.

In recent times, November 11 has become a day of reflection and commemoration for all servicemen and women and civilians, past and present, who have sacrificed their lives to defend the freedoms of others.

Poppies are being sold across Mahe and are also available from the British High Commission and at St Paul’s on the day.