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Remembrance Day
Today was a very important day for Little Miss M. She (along with 6 other children in Year 2) had been chosen to participate in the Remembrance service at the police station's cenotaph. Each child accompanied a police officer; the officer laid a wreath, the child a cross. Little Miss M has been incredibly excited about this all week, and has been telling me all about the Great War, poppies and memorial ceremonies.
Of course we went to the service this morning and I found it very moving - it was cold and windy and grey, the vicar was hardly audible, the crowd not very large (50 people maybe), but it just felt right. It wasn't big and flashy and pretentious, not trying to 'make it special'. It was just honest. I don't really have the right words for describing it, except that the children were all incredibly sweet and made it all very poignant and moving.
Anyway, this afternoon Little Miss M and the girls from next door did some drawings all about Remembrance Day. So here is what an almost-seven-year-old thinks. Behind a cut to spare your space.
Of course we went to the service this morning and I found it very moving - it was cold and windy and grey, the vicar was hardly audible, the crowd not very large (50 people maybe), but it just felt right. It wasn't big and flashy and pretentious, not trying to 'make it special'. It was just honest. I don't really have the right words for describing it, except that the children were all incredibly sweet and made it all very poignant and moving.
Anyway, this afternoon Little Miss M and the girls from next door did some drawings all about Remembrance Day. So here is what an almost-seven-year-old thinks. Behind a cut to spare your space.
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It was a nice touch to have the children there, to remember something that is quickly becoming only history. I read this morning that the US has only 8 living WWI veterans. I always associate this day with my mother, who was born a couple of years after the war ended and given the middle name "Olive" to commemmorate her birth coinciding with a celebration of peace.
Here, we call it Veterans Day, and it celebrates all who served in all wars, not just the fallen. On Memorial Day in May, we remember the dead
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Thank you - and yes, she finds it all very interesting and exciting, rather than sad. But I wouldn't change that for the world - she'll have time enough to learn about sadness.
the US has only 8 living WWI veterans
I think it's not much more in this country. And they were the ones who joined up when they were only 16 or 17...
given the middle name "Olive"
That's lovely. My father (both my parents are Danish btw) was born on the 4th of May (in 1947) which was (in '45 obviously) the day before the official liberation of Denmark. But that night (in '45 and for years afterwards) people put candles in their windows, because they needen't be afraid anymore. So it was a very good date to be born on.
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And the school did a wonderful job. She's been coming home every day talking awy about what new things she learned.
I didn't see the 109-year-old, sadly. It's astonishing that any of them have survived for so long.
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I tend to think that shows her parents are doing a wonderful job too, encouraging her to be so interested in learning.
I didn't see the 109-year-old, sadly. It's astonishing that any of them have survived for so long.
Fewer every year - but such a treasure to see the survivors.
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