Remembrance Day 2024: Saluting the Courageous Souls Engaged in the Battle for Our Freedom
The 11th of November is a day dedicated to remembering and honoring the soldiers who selflessly lost their lives in the pursuit of peace and freedom, not only in one’s country but also around the world. Together, we will mark Remembrance Day 2024, a day that allows us to remember the sacrifices of heroes who are no longer with us but do not cease to exist in our thoughts. It is a day of rememberance and paying trubutes to those who toiled to make the world we are living in today and it calls for efforts to be made in sustaining peace.
The History of Remembrance Day
Remembrance Day, also referred to as Armistice Day, marks the anniversary of the end of world war I on eleventh November of nineteen eighteen. On that day, every 11 a.m., the guns that claimed so many lives in that historical conflict were ordered to cease fire and they did. Initially observed as a day for memorial service for World War I casualties, it is now a broader direction that encompasses memorial services for every person in the military who has rendered service and died in the line of duty.
Remembrance Day & Poppy Flower
The poppy is perhaps the most recognisable of these symbols. Based on the famous war poem In Flanders Fields, the poppy is a symbol of both the life lost and the sacrifices made by the soldiers. And today, it’s become common practice to wear a poppy on Remembrance Day, out of respect and memory for those who sacrificed their lives for their nation.
How is Remembrance Day Observed?
The day will also be commemorated in 2024 with speeches and other commemorative events across the globe. Service collection, parades and memorials to the fallen are also part of countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. In most places, people join together at parades and bring funeral wreaths, generally composed of poppies, to the war memorials for a few moments of quiet prayer or introspection.
In the Commonwealth countries and many others around the globe, November 11 is marked by sober ceremonies, laying of wreaths at the war memorials and observing two minutes of silence at 11 am for the fallen soldiers, who laid down their lives in wars. Silence is also a moment of shared memories where everyone takes time to appreciate the price one pays to be involved in any war. More than simply remembering a date in history, remembrance day has become a focus of honour for all men and women who served in any capacity during any conflict, so that their losses will not be in vain.