That is a sad loss for this year as the poppy sales do benefit the veterans.
Well that's the ;point.. But Im not out much at present. I dont think I've seen anyone wearing one in my locality... because I suppose they're hard to get....
That is a sad loss for this year as the poppy sales do benefit the veterans.
Well actually it's not just not about veterans. The poppy appeal raise funds for ex servicemen & women but Remembrance Sunday is the national act of remembering the dead. Cenotaph means empty tomb & it became a place for the bereaved to mourn since a decision had been made to leave the war dead in Flanders & France. It literally represents the absent dead.
This is understood in Britain. I don't want to come across as rude but maybe some attempt to understand the context here might be useful.
Just my take on it. The veterans are honored living and deceased and the deceased's next of kin would IMO appreciate it and veterans alive today would appreciate their deceased "mates" being honored.
Thank you for taking the time to explain this Durham as there is a difference between Remembrance Sunday in the UK and Veteran's Day in the U.S.
My father lays in one of these cemeteries and I immediately felt a physically ill sensation. I thought of the honor of burying him, the flag, the gun salute, I thought of the solemnity of laying a wreath there in solitude every year, and the thought that any public figure would bring a camera crew onto the grounds of a veteran's cemetery for their own purposes is such an unsettling feeling.
I am honestly floored at the idea that doing so to stave off personal criticism (that people might have "been mean to him" had he not done it) would somehow be a justification.
No, it isn't about any individual members of the BRF. It is about the Fallen in two World Wars and more recent conflicts. Which Harry, as an ex service man, who served in combat, has every right to observe and honour. Have any of the courtiers who knocked back his request for a wreath to be laid at the Cenotaph ever seen a shot fired in anger?
I had thought that perhaps they had gone inot silence because nothing had been heard of them in the past week or 2....
First of all I salute the memory of your father who gave his life for our liberty. Rest in peace, Sir !My father lays in one of these cemeteries and I immediately felt a physically ill sensation. I thought of the honor of burying him, the flag, the gun salute, I thought of the solemnity of laying a wreath there in solitude every year, and the thought that any public figure would bring a camera crew onto the grounds of a veteran's cemetery for their own purposes is such an unsettling feeling.
I am honestly floored at the idea that doing so to stave off personal criticism (that people might have "been mean to him" had he not done it) would somehow be a justification.
I am of two minds about this. My initial reaction was that this is another example of Harry demonstrating that he just doesn't understand what no longer being a working royal means for him, and this is just over the top attention-seeking behaviour.
On the other hand, he placed flowers on the graves of an Australian and a Canadian, two Commonwealth servicemen from countries for whom Remembrance Day means honouring the dead. It reminded me of the words of "The Soldier" about the corner of a foreign field that is forever England. Yes, different circumstances but there is that connotation neveretheless, and if that was in his mind and behind this action then, as an Australian, I am touched and a bit misty. Of course I may just be being a sentimental fool and Harry thought nothing of the sort... but maybe he did.
But he shouldn't have taken the photographer with him.
If it was meant to be a private act of remembrance why one photographer?
Actually the couple didn't bring a camera crew into the cemetery. Just one photographer. They were respectful and quiet, wore dark clothes and poppies and laid flowers on the graves of two Commonwealth servicemen, as well as a wreath, with flowers from their own garden.
It is just a shame IMO that it has to involve them being in every photo when the focus should be elsewhere (and I don't mean HM or the RF)
does teh US have a national act of remebmberance on the May day @TLLK? if you saw any of the UK things this week, it is 100 years since the burial of the Unknown Soldier in Westminster Abbey, where a single body was returned from France to the UK to be buried, as an act of honour and remembrance to those who had died in the Great War and were buried in France and Belgium,,,
Both Memorial Day and Veterans Day are official public holidays across the United States. But here are the key differences:
What the days honor
- Memorial Day: This is to honor military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
- Veterans Day: A holiday to remember everyone who served in the military, period, whether or not they served in wartime.
It's also different in Australia and New Zealand as well, where there are ANZAC day (25th April) and Remembrance day (11th November). According to Chris Widenbar from the Australian War Memorial.
"Anzac Day is a day for commemoration, for thanking the veterans and it's also part of our national story. Remembrance Day, on the other hand, is solely about remembrance. It's solely about remembering those 102,800 Australians who have given their lives for us."https://www.sbs.com.au/news/remembr...-australia-s-consciousness-says-war-historian
Going back to Harry & Meghan, I think bringing in a photographer gives a wrong optic and perceived as "self-publication". They could have just lay the wreath privately.
I am sure that Prince Harry would be able to find a wreath and attend a Veteran's Day service on Wednesday 11/11/20 to honor the service of American Veterans.
They could have simply released a picture of their wreath in place after laying it privately IMO (or released no picture at all but they wouldn't have done that)
.
And it looks like he did just that.
All of this sits with me the wrong way. It just doesn't feel "right" for some odd reason. It, to me, seems to have been done on purpose to be "inclusive" with what was happening in the UK for Remembrance Sunday but the thing is, they're not included in the events at the Cenotaph. Even Harry's message "“To all of those who have served, are are serving. Thank you.” would have been more appropriate if he had actually waited for the American Veteran's Day on the 11th.
I'm sure there are Americans in the UK that would go all out to celebrate the fourth Thursday in November, known in the States as Thanksgiving, but they'd do it among themselves as something personal to them. No matter what Harry and Meghan's honest intent about this, it ends up looking like a self seeking photo op for attention.
JMO