Remembrance Day

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Remembrance Day (or Armistice Day) is typically a holiday on 11 November each year in Canada.  Originally it was meant to commemorate the Armistice that ended the First World War (sometimes called "the Great War").  There have been many wars since, including World War 2.  The day has come to commemorate all those who have made sacrifices in war, peacekeeping, in peace-time and on "the home front".  Canada's Remembrance Day is similar to that of France and Belgium in that it is a national holiday.  In the United Kingdom, Remembrance Sunday is the day of commemoration, rather than 11 November.  In Australia and New Zealand the poppy is worn on ANZAC day.

The poppy came into being in 1918 by American Moina Michael, inspired by Canadian (RCAMC) Colonel John MacRae's poem, In Flander's Fields of 1915:

  

In Flanders Fields

    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.

 

She wore the first poppy.  In 1921 the American Legion adopted the poppy as did the British Empire Service League.  Canadian veterans of the Great War adopted the poppy in July 1921 followed by the nascent Royal British Legion.  Eventually it was adopted by the British Empire Service League (of which the Royal British Legion and Royal Canadian Legion and others were federated members).  In Canada the poppy is a protected symbol and was registered as such under the Trademarks Act in 1948 (POPPY DESIGN — 0980289).  A major promoter of the poppy was Lady Haig, wife of one of the founders of the British Empire Service League, Scottish Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig (the equestrian statue image above is of his statue in Edinburgh) - very popular at the time but today sometimes referred to as the "Butcher of the Somme".  

The poppy shown above is of the poppy worn in Canada.  Scotland has its own poppy that derived directly from a design set up by Lady Haig in 1926 and manufactured in Edinburgh by disabled veterans.  The Scottish poppy has four lobes on it, much like the Canadian one.  The English poppy has only two lobes on it.

A number of organizations have attempted to make use of white poppies, khadi poppies, rainbow poppies, purple poppies and black poppies to promote their causes (pacifism, participation of Asians in remembrance, LGTBQ, animals and anti-Iraq War).  There is controversy over that.  In France the poppy is not worn but rather the bluet de France.  

2021 is the 100th anniversary of the Remembrance Day poppy.  

The Northwest Territorial Pipe Band traditionally plays at Remembrance Day ceremonies in schools and on 11 November.  Many of the tunes played are commemorations of Scottish soldiers and were played during battles and to enhance the morale of the troops.  One of our common tunes, "The Green Hills of Tyrol" captures this through the words to the tune written by song-writer Andy Steward - a tune that reached number 1 in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK in 1961.  The tune commemorates the Siege of Balaclava (Crimean War):

The Green Hills of Tyrol

The Scottish Soldier
There was a soldier, a Scottish soldier
Who wandered far away and soldiered far away
There was none bolder, with good broad shoulder
He's fought in many a fray, and fought and won.
He'd seen the glory and told the story
Of battles glorious and deeds nefarious
But now he's sighing, his heart is crying
To leave these green hills of Tyrol.

Because these green hills are not highland hills
Or the island hills, the're not my land's hills
And fair as these green foreign hills may be
They are not the hills of home.

And now this soldier, this Scottish soldier
Who wandered far away and soldiered far away
Sees leaves are falling and death is calling
And he will fade away, in that far land.
He called his piper, his trusty piper
And bade him sound a lay... a pibroch sad to play
Upon a hillside, a Scottish hillside
Not on these green hills of Tyrol.

 

And so this soldier, this Scottish soldier
Will wander far no more and soldier far no more
And on a hillside, a Scottish hillside
You'll see a piper play his soldier home.
He'd seen the glory, he'd told his story
Of battles glorious and deeds victorious
The bugles cease now, he is at peace now
Far from those green hills of Tyrol.

And now this soldier, this Scottish soldier
Who wandered far away and soldiered far away
Sees leaves are falling and death is calling
And he will fade away, in that far land.
He called his piper, his trusty piper
And bade him sound a lay... a pibroch sad to play
Upon a hillside, a Scottish hillside
Not on these green hills of Tyrol.

And so this soldier, this Scottish soldier
Will wander far no more and soldier far no more
And on a hillside, a Scottish hillside
You'll see a piper play his soldier home.
He'd seen the glory, he'd told his story
Of battles glorious and deeds victorious
The bugles cease now, he is at peace now
Far from those green hills of Tyrol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCSB_BiNSZo 

Andy Steward Sings A Scottish Soldier

A number of members of the Northwest Territorial Pipe Band are veterans.  So this day of commemoration is especially meaningful to them. 

How can one not mention Private William Millin (aka Piper Bill) who was the personal piper to Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat and commander of 1 Special Service Brigade at D-Day.  Although born in Saskatchewan he immigrated to Scotland prior to the War and worked as a policeman in Glasgow.  He joined the Highland Light Infantry the Queen's Own Camerons and eventually No. 4 Commando.  He piped during the D-Day landings on Sword Beach (remember the Canadian Army was on Juno Beach and the Americans on Omaha Beach). 

[From Wikipedia] The use of bagpipes was restricted to rear areas by the British Army. Lovat, nevertheless, ignored these orders and ordered Millin, then aged 21, to play. When Private Millin demurred, citing the regulations, he recalled later, Lord Lovat replied: "Ah, but that's the English War Office. You and I are both Scottish, and that doesn't apply."  Millin played "Highland Laddie" "The Road to the Isles" and "All The Blue Bonnets Are Over The Border" as his comrades fell around him on Sword Beach. Millin states that he later talked to captured German snipers who claimed they did not shoot at him because they thought he had gone mad.  Millin was the only soldier wearing a kilt on D-Day - the very same one his father wore in Flanders during World War 1.  Millin was armed with his pipes and a sgian-dubh.  In the 1962 film The Longest Day, Millin's character was played by Leslie de Laspee, the official piper to the Queen Mother in 1961.

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