Every year on the 11th day of the eleventh month we gather in memorial parks, community halls, workplaces, and schools to stand in honor of all the fallen soldiers and the men and women who serve our country during the Great Wars. Remembrance Day is also commonly known as Armistice Day as it was an agreement made by opposing sides to call a truce.
The tradition of Remembrance day will continue, and Canada’s Fallen will not be forgotten. On the 11th hour on Remembrance Day, a two-minute moment of silence is held across Canada to commemorate those men and women who have served Canada during times of War.
In Canada, Remembrance Day is a public holiday and federal statutory holiday in respect to those Canadians who sacrificed their lives for Canada. Those who had families that fought in past wars would also make an effort to especially recognize them for their courage. One war hero that is forever etched in our minds is Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae who was a physician and soldier during World War I and is best known for writing the famous war poem “In Flanders Fields”.
The Department of Veterans Affairs runs a program called Canada Remembers with the mission to continually honor the achievements and sacrifices made by those who served Canada in times of war. This year we want to remember two Filipinos who served in the great wars. The first Macario Fat was a Chinese Filipino who served in the 47th infantry battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I. The other person is Peter Nahanee Garcia who was a second-generation Filipino Hawaiian who was a longshore worker and World War II Canadian Army veteran.
To this day, we wear the poppy as the symbol of remembrance day because they are the flowers that grew on the battlefields around the bodies of the fallen soldiers shortly after the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century. Poppies are a symbol of hope and peace with an underlying meaning to pay tribute to the sacrifice of the brave soldiers who lost their lives during wartime for the greater good. So wear the poppy proud and don’t forget to take a moment today and pay tribute to fallen soldiers and also have gratitude for how fortunate we are to be living in Canada.