Veterans and Remembrance Day

Veterans Day (U.S.), also known as Remembrance Day (Canada) is observed on the 11th of November to recall the official end of World War I on that date in 1918 and to serve as a sober reminder of all that our veterans have sacrificed and to support servicemen and women.

Thank you, veterans both U.S. and Canadian, for your service, whether you served years ago, recently served, or are currently serving in the military.

Canadians here wear poppies in honor of their veterans. The red poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem In Flanders Fields. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red colour an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war.

In Flanders fields the poppies grow
      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.