Is Veterans Day Celebrated In Other Countries?
Yes, a number of countries honor their veterans each year on November 11th, although the name and types of commemorations differ somewhat from Veterans Day celebrations in the United States. For example, Canada and Australia observe “Remembrance Day” on November 11th, and Great Britain observes Remembrance Day on the Sunday nearest to November 11th. There are similarities and differences between these countries’ Remembrance Day and America’s Veterans Day. Canada’s observance is actually quite similar to the U.S. celebration, in that the day is intended to honor all who served in Canada’s Armed Forces. However, unlike in the U.S., many Canadians wear red poppy flowers on November 11th in honor of their war dead, a tradition which began with the World War I poem “In Flanders Fields,” written by Colonel John McCrae, a surgeon with Canada’s 1st Brigade Artillery. His poem expressed his grief at seeing the graves of soldiers who had died on Flanders’ battlefields, located in a region of western Belgium and northern France, and contrasted them with the bright red flowers blooming amid the rows of white crosses. (The wearing of poppies in honor of America’s war dead is traditionally done on Memorial Day, not Veterans Day.) In Australia, Remembrance Day is very much like America’s Memorial Day, a day to honor that nation’s war dead.
In Great Britain, the day is commemorated by church services and parades of ex-service members in Whitehall, a wide ceremonial avenue leading from London’s Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square. Wreaths of poppies are left at the Cenotaph, a war memorial in Whitehall, which was built after the First World War. At the Cenotaph and elsewhere in the country, a two-minute silence is observed at 11 a.m., to honor those who lost their lives in wars. ( LINK @ 2022 Newsela)
