Remembrance Day in Great Britain is also known as “Poppy Day”.  All over the UK around November 11th you see people wearing poppies to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918.  Hostilities formally ended “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month,” in accordance with the armistice.

Poppies for Armistice Day. Photo by me

Today poppies are worn by many British citizens in memory of members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty — the UK version of America’s Veterans’ Day.

For a small donation, poppies are available all over London this weekend (here at the Victoria & Albert Museum), and everyone is wearing them. Photo by me.

The red remembrance poppy is a widely displayed emblem of Remembrance Day in honor of the poem “in Flanders Field.” These poppies bloomed across some of the worst Battlefields on Flanders, their blood-red color an appropriate symbol of the blood spilled.

My poppy. Photo by me

In Flanders Fields  (John McCrae)

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
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.