November 11th Armistice Day, Veterans Day, Remembrance Sunday

Since the end of WWI the Armistice Day has been an important occasion. Two minutes silence is observed.

You can honour the dead, honour their endurance, feel sad at the sacrifice of their life, honour the survivors, and pray for peace.

Armistice Day in London has parades and wreath laying in central London. 

Also wreaths in cemeteries all over the UK and wreaths placed on public memorials. For example, the mayor of Harrow lays a wreath on the grave of Leafe Robinson in the borough of Harrow.

The Australians and New Zealanders have their commemorations of the Anzacs - Australian and New Zealand. That is every year, in late April.

Many other groups gather together for memorials.

In London a Jewish group honours those who died. Ancestry tracing has me in its thrall.

All the military records websites keep sending me updates. They notify me of traces of people with the same surname in newly acquired records from the army, navy and other services around the world.

My mother's first husband died at Gallipoli in a plane which was shot down. My mother had the letter informing her of his death. She needed to produce it to re-marry, to prove she was a widow and not committing bigamy. I was born to her second husband. I was only able to trace the story after both my parents died.

War museums have their own exhibitions.

More commemorations are held on Rememberance Sunday.

The USA call Nov 11th Veterans Day. Slightly different emphasis.

Places to visit

UK

The Cenotaph, London

National Arboretum, Staffordshire.

10-5pm, free but donations appreciated. Restaurant. Parking may be full and places may need to be booked at major events such as at services on Armistice Day.

Useful Websites

UK

Association of Jewish Ex Service

https://www.ajex.org.uk/

National Arboretum

https://www.thenma.org.uk/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Memorial_Arboretum#

UK and Worldwide

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_of_11_November_1918

USA

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gathering_of_Jewish_Holocaust_Survivors_and_their_Descendants

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11416231/What-time-Remembrance-Day-two-minutes-silence-Armistice-Day-honoured.html

Remembrance Sunday, UK , USA, Australia and worldwide

Events took place on Friday, which was the 11th hour of the eleventh day of eleventh month. Two friends of mine were in Aldi supermarket in Pinner. (German - reconciliation with Germany, how appropriate.) Just before eleven they finished shopping and went onto the rooftop carpark to collect their car, which is where they always park. They heard a cannon and church bells ringing. Then the silence. Then another cannon and the church bells ringing again.

Two minutes of silence today, Sunday at 11 am mark Remembrance Sunday. H M The Queen was always is at the Cenotaph in London.

Sunday (this year the 13th November) is a day when people are off work and can attend and watch in person or on TV.

Back in the Nineteen Forties and Fifties people would have been listening to the radio. (Remember how people bought TV in 1953 to watch the coronation.) Nowadays, you can watch the internet on portable devices such as laptops and iPads and smart phones. Some people can set alerts on phones and watch on their watches. How the world has changed.

If you missed it, you can watch it again on TV. Expect to see members of the Royal Family, all the armed forces, the British Legion, elderly people in wheelchairs, parents and children.

In London at dusk poppies and poems are projected on the Elizabeth Tower housing Big Ben.

In Scotland commemorations take place at St Giles.
In Wales, events are in Cardiff and other cities and towns.

Is the rest of the world doing the same at the same time? That would be difficult to co-ordinate. South Africa and some of Western Europe is either on the same time zone or only an hour or two different. But the rest of the world, such as Australia, is on different time zones. (Australia and New Zealand are also in different seasons.) But we all have the media to keep us in touch.

In America November 11th is a national holiday. The word holiday sounds irreverent. But I remember that holiday originally meant holy day.

If you want to read about the relationship of Veterans Day and Remembrance Day you have many sources to consult. Memorial Day in the USA in May is for those who died. Remembrance Day place of honour is given to survivors who march to remember their fallen comrades, those who serviced injured physically or mentally, and all who served, whether as volunteers or conscripted. Nowadays the commemoration is not just for WWI or WWII but all wars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Day
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/remembrance-day-canada-ottawa-national-war-memorial-1.3846939
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-37952921
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-37962381
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3930522/Kate-joins-Queen-senior-royals-Royal-Albert-Hall-annual-Festival-Remembrance.html
https://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/remembrance/ (Australia)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Remembrance War, Peace, Pacifist Memorials to visit UK, Europe, USA & Worldwide & Pacifist Memorial

Armistice Day has been observed since 1919. Traditionally at the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month. Nowadays you can hear the haunting sounds of the Last Post play every night at the Menin Gate in Belgium. Visit graves and memorials to the Great War battles. Glance at plaques as you pass through London underground and overground railway stations. Worldwide, join a jolly tour plunging into the water on a boat which was used in the D-day landings, as I did in New York and Philadelphia. Or simply join me touring the world as an armchair traveller through time.

Permanent Memorials
UK
Town Memorials
Most towns and village have war memorials, often in the middle of the town square. I can't list them all because there are more than 100,000.
www.greatwar.co.uk/organizations/war-memorials-trust

School Memorials
Lists of the fallen are on the walls of schools, such as Harrow School.

Transport Memorials
A memorial to members of London Transport is on Baker Street station. Take the Bakerloo south. Another memorial is at the arched entrance-exit of Waterloo station, Britain's biggest station.

London
Cenotaph, Whitehall, London.

London landmarks include the Polish war memorial. Go along the Western Avenue from the Target Roundabout. It's near RAF Northolt, which probably explains the location.

Museums:
RAF museum, Hendon.
Imperial War Museum, London. (This is where the ceramic poppies (originally placed around the Tower of London) will end up after touring.
Churchill War rooms, under London.

England
National Arboretum, Staffordshire, UK. Includes the Shot At Dawn memorial.
www.thenma.org.uk

Scotland
Edinburgh, monument at Edinburgh's Waverley Station. In 2014 a plaque was unveiled at Glasgow's Central Station.

Wales
Welsh National War Memorial, Cardiff.

France
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, under the Arc de Triomphe, Paris.

Belgium
Flanders
Menin Gate. Ypres.
In Flanders Fields museum, Ypres, Blegium.

Temporary - Armchair Travellers View These Online
Red poppies, ceramic, surrounding the Tower of London. One poppy for each person who died, UK and colonial (Commonwealth?) countries. 2014 until November.

Recurrent Annual Events
Remembrance Armistice Day
London. Wreath laying by the British royal family and members of parliament at the Cenotaph in Whitehall. Two minutes of silence.
Parade.
Playing of last post.

Scotland
Edinburgh
Parade in Royal Mile on Remembrance Day.

Preserved Planes
Planes - spitfire at Bentley Priory, Stanmore, Middlesex.

Preserved Boats
You can take a tourist trip on WWII duck boats (amphibious vehicles on water and on land in WWIII) in the USA (New York and Philadelphia), London, and Singapore, and elsewhere, depending on weather.

Memorial in France.
Wikipedia.

Worldwide Sites
Australia: ANZAC memorial, Hyde Park, Sydney. Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne.
Bangladesh
Brazil
Canada: Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa.
China
Czeck Republic.
Egypt: El Alamein cemetery, along the coast west of Cairo.
Gibraltar. American monument (arch with names). Outdoors. Accessible all year.
India. Bombay (Mumbai). India Gate.
Israel. Yad Vashem.
Italy
Japan (controversial)
Malaysia: War memorial looks like the American flag raising Iwo Jima, created by the same sculptor.
Netherlands
New Zealand
Philippines: Manila American War Memorial and Cemetery.
Poland. Warsaw Ghetto. Auschwitz.
Portugal
Russia
Scotland: Spean Bridge Commando memorial.
Singapore: Kranji.
South Africa
Spain: Valley of the Fallen, near Madrid. (Valle de los Caidos.)
Turkey: Gallipoli.
UK Madingley American Cemetery, Cambridge. www.madingleyamericancemteryinfo
Runnymede Air Forces Memorial, Coopers Hill Lane, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey. Tel 01784 433329. See Tripadvisor. wiki commonwealth_war_graves_memorials
Ukraine: Babi Yar, near Kiev.
USA: Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, USA. Gettysburg.
American Battle Monuments Commission abmc warmemorialsandcemeteries

Heritage Plaques

Cemeteries with Memorials
El Alamein, Egypt

I am updating this post and will add more during today and later.

More Information From:
www.findagrave
www.wikipedia Somme
www.wikipedia war_memorials

You can do tours of Belgium and France which will help you visit the grave of your ancestor or the wall where their name is inscribed.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.