The signing of the Armistice (cease fire) of 1918 to end the hostilities of the Great War (World War I, 1914 – 1918) on 11:00 a.m., 11 November 1918 effectively ended the greatest war (at that time) humanity had ever engaged. The Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany and the Ottoman Empire) and the Allied Powers (Belgium, British Empire and Commonwealth, France, Greece (undeclared), Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Serbia, USA) halted all belligerent action until the formal surrender of the Central Powers at the Peace Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
Armistice Day (11 November) was internationally observed and annual commemorations began in 1919 and continue to this day. Throughout the Commonwealth, it is officially recognized as Remembrance Day, in honour and tribute to all nationals deceased during wars and primarily featured as a Monday holiday and actually celebrated as Remembrance Sunday.
The remainder of the Allied Powers hold it as Armistice Day. In the USA it is known as Veteran’s Day.
The Red Poppy
Red poppy flowers represent consolation, remembrance and death. The flowering plant is native and dominant in the Flanders region of the Kingdom of Belgium, the scene of numerous battles during the Great War. The landscape there was blasted, bombed and fought over repeatedly – the naturally scenic and tranquil countryside torn apart; barren and bleak where little or nothing could grow except for the red poppy, the resilient native flower flourishing amidst all the chaos and destruction.
Since ancient times in the Roman Empire and possibly earlier, the red poppy placed on graves symbolised eternal sleep and peace. Initially, throughout the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, the red poppy depicted eternal rest on Remembrance Day. Soon, the flower gained worldwide acceptance and recognition for this special and specific purpose. On the occasion of the centennial observance of Armistice Day on 11 November 2018, the Royal Family visited every Commonwealth War Cemetery in Flanders delivering red poppy wreaths in tribute to all the deceased.
In the USA, red poppies are given out on Veteran’s Day as well as in other of the Allied Powers.
In Flanders Fields
by 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, fell down, 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.
John McCrae was the son of Scottish immigrants and born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada in 1872. In May 1915, he was serving as a physician in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps in Flanders, Belgium. On 2 May Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, a Canadian field artillery officer and close friend of McCrae was killed in the Second Battle of Ypres. Shortly afterwards, McCrae wrote the above poem in memory of his lifelong friend and honouring all the war dead.
The poem was first published on 8 December 1915 in London, UK, in the satyrical British magazine, Punch. It was immediately popular and widely circulated and reprinted as a fitting tribute. It was a favourite of King George V and his wife, Queen Mary, grandparents of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
A tribute and a thought for all those who sacrificed.
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride: Guys Without Boxers!
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Friday, November 13, 2026, and the proposed topic is: “A Guy Without Boxers!”
