Today is Veteran's Day

[PZ]

Thank you to all veterans for your service.

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yes, absolutely. My father is a vet from the Korean war. He always said it should be the veterans who get the day off and no one else. I agree with that. As it is, only government workers get it off for the most part.

[fragger]

Here we call it Remembrance Day, same date (11/11). At 11am, we observe a minute's silence. Many wear a red poppy in remembrance, as that was the first type of flower to reappear in the Flanders fields after all the carnage there in WW1.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them".

[nex]

And they're not getting honored and respected as near as what they should
for what they went through to try and make this a better world to live in.
Whoever and wherever you are,  i SALUTE YOU!! 

[Art Blade]

I wish it had been possible to entirely avoid the reasons why there have been veterans in the first place.

[BinnZ]

In Holland we have our veterans day the last Saturday in June. First it was the 29th of June, which is the birth date of Prince Bernard, a well known Dutch veteran and member of the royal family. But the last Saturday in June is likely more practical. Funny (and likely very Dutch) to think in practical reasons to find the right date for veterans day. I bet they were all sent to war on Monday, because it was more practical.

Anyway; a bigger even in Holland than Veterans day is Liberation day, the 5th of May. That's when we officially were liberated from the Germans in 1945. We all have a day off, which is the only non Christian day off we have in Holland.

When thinking of war heroes or veterans I always think of a bronze statue in my home town dedicated to the resistance. During the war there was a strong underground movement that tried to help people who were hidden and tried to thwart the occupiers. They helped families who hid Jews for example, and transported food to the Western cities that were cut off any supplies during the last winter of the war in 1944.

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The lines on the Church wall that correspond the statue read:

"Zij hebben door hun sterven
meer gegeven,
dan veler jaren som,
ons geven kon"

"With their dying they have given us more,
than many years together
could give us"

[nex]

I wish it had been possible to entirely avoid the reasons why there have been veterans in the first place.

Couldn't agree with you more Art, but unfortunately we do have bad elements in this world

[fragger]

We recognise that date (11/11) for probably the same reason America does - that was the date on which the Armistice ending WW1 was signed in 1918, at 11am in the morning - hence the minute's silence at that hour. We used to call it Armistice Day until it was decided that it implied exclusion of vets from WW2, Korea and Vietnam, so it was changed to Remembrance Day to commemorate veterans from all conflicts.

We also have Anzac Day on the 25th April, the date in WW1 when Australian troops first landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey. This marked the first entry of Aussie troops in any major international conflict (although Australians had earlier been involved in the Second Boer War in South Africa, 1899-1902, but this is not recognized as a truly international war, even though technically it was. It was a trifling affair compared to WW1). Anzac Day is also a remembrance occasion for veterans of all conflicts - especially now that there are no surviving WW1 vets. The difference is that on Anzac Day there are dawn services held around the country followed by memorial marches, conducted by veterans (and in the cases of deceased vets, their descendants). These marches are solemn occasions - they're not parades.

Remembrance Day is a day of contemplation, without marches.