Around 30 years ago, we attended our first French 11 November…
We happened to be out for a drive, passing through a village. We stopped the car when we saw the flag bearers and folk marching… and decided to join them.
At the War Memorial, we stood a respectful distance away. Of course we couldn’t follow what they were saying, but the emotion was very clear.
The music, the flags, the words spoken with such feeling…
Certainly brought a tear to my eyes.
I noticed poppies sewn into some premier league football teams shirts (not sure if it was all teams this weekend or not) but the majority of players are not from the UK so do they understand the significance? If not, it’s just a meaningless gesture.
Izzy x
I can’t see why shouldn’t understand…
I understand the significance of the Bluet and always wear one at the various Commemorations… as a sign of respect as I live in France.
(by the way, not arguing, simply my thoughts)
It means something to you. Sure young people can understand what the gesture symbolises, but for a young portuguese dancer for example who is told to wear it and not given a choice this probably has little real meaning. I prefer people to do things from the heart.
And for Peter …if you have time during the couple of long evening between now and Wednesday…
Portugal is a wonderful country with a very dramatic/tragic history… much blood shed and horror… over the centuries… according to our Portuguese friends…
When we are there, we respect their ways… 
It is kind of forced on them though. They are given a team shirt with the poppy sewn into it so they have no choice but to wear it. I imagine it passes many of them by particularly those who have been in the country for a very short time. It’s as if it’s done because it must be seen to be done rather than as an act of remembrance. I guess they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t! 
Izzy x
There’s a memorial in the village where I live, Remembrance Sunday is the only time I get to see the people who live in the village. There’s a wreath laid and a bugler, the last post does me every time and this year I ended up standing closer than I ever have(still 2Mtrs), 2min silence is bloody thought provoking.
Nice touch this year, An articulated lorry, who’d seen the gathering, stopped on the road outside to pay his respects. Lest we forget an all that 
Yes the English always want to eat their cake and keep it. Witness their behaviour around Brexit.
War is politics by other means according to Clausewitz.
I have never missed attending both the 8th of May and the 12th of November in our village in 21 years. Pierre Descourtieux, the late chief of the local Ancien Combattantes always used to introduce me to newcomers as ‘notre ami fidele’ and never failed to mention the English (we all knew he meant British) in his address at the memorial.
The first year I attended, I walked down. not knowing what to expect, with my Greyhound Lira, and we stood together silently towards the back of the throng. A car came down the quiet back road and and people reluctantly allowed it to drive though. Appalled, Lira and I moved to the centre and refused to move for the next one, everybody else hesitated and some stayed put. No car has passed though in the 21 years since.
I was invited to the vin d’honneur in the salle but demurred because of the dog, everybody was at pains to assure that we would both be welcome. As this was in the days pre austerity the range of alcohol on offer was great and Pierre’s wife, discovering that I, like her, preferred port to whisky kept topping up our glasses. It was very lucky that Lira knew the way home. 
I said I had never missed, not true, on the 8th this year an exception was requested. I am wondering this time, as the memorial is just about within my km, if I should go anyway and stand well apart. I am sure some will be there.
As an Army brat and decades later a member of The International Guild of Battlefield Guides I suppose I’ve heard The Last Post and The Ode to The Fallen many hundreds of times. The Last Post still sends shivers up my spine, as does The Ode.
I wrote to my then MP about 11/11 being a public holiday, as in France and other countries. “There is a committee looking into the matter” That was 12-15 years ago.
On 22 August 1914, at 11:15, the first rounds fired by British artillery were aimed at the advancing troops of von Gluck’s 1st Army. Exactly 100 years later, to the minute, ‘E’ Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, the unit which had engaged the enemy coming south through the village of Perrones, Belgium, commemorated the event.
“At the going down of the sun
And in the morning
We will remember them”
ANZAC Day Commemoration. Dawn. Villers-Bretenneaux
Canadian National Memorial, Vimy Hill.
Arnhem 17th Sept Commemoration 2nd Para - ‘The Bridge Too Far’
Taps. Striking the Stars & Stripes. American Cemetery. Bony
The French Nationa Memorial - The Eternal Flame - Notre Dame de Lorette
Portugal was one of The Allies in WW1. It has to be said that the Portuguese detachment did not distinguish itself: rather the opposite - but with one glorious exception.
In the face of an advancing German infantry battalion, the Portuguese holding that sector of the line ‘retired’ but for one man operating a machine gun. His fire was so effective and persistent that he halted the advance of the entire enemy battalion long enough for the gap in the line to be filled by B.E.F. units.
I have visited the Portuguese National Memorial to WW1 but unfortunately my photographs of it were rather poor - it was lashing with rain - so here’s one of all the allies, including Portugal and Russia, commemmorating the 90th Anniversary of The Armistice in the CWGC Cemetery at Mons. SHAPE being very near, the wreath layers were of very senior rank.
This place is exceptional
