When I was growing up, everyone would don a little felt poppy to wear on November 11th. We called this day Remembrance Day, though some people still called it Armistice Day. On this day in 1918, The Great War ended after four terrible years. A generation of young men was practically wiped out, and many of the survivors came home from the war horrible damaged in mind or body.
In school we learned a poem that still brings me to tears every time I read it.
In Flanders Fields
John McCrae
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.
Here in the United States this day is called Veteran's Day, and it is a day when we honor all our soldiers who have served, and who have fallen.
I have reviewed two books about Armistice Day/Remembrance Day/Veteran's Day that you might like to share with your child or children. There are also the titles in the World War I feature that will help children to understand what that conflict was about, and what it was like to live through it.
