Sorry if I missed a pre-existing thread, but:

it's La Jour du Souvenir/Remembrance Day:




on n'oublions jamais/lest we forget.

 

Had to Google it, but that's like a Veteran's Day for UK/Canada/Austrailian WWI vets?

Heh. No opinion on it, since it's not really something that applies to me, but if it did, I suspect I'd have the same thoughts I have about Veteran's Day.

 

It's not just for the First World War - it's for those who served in the Second World War too, as well as those who have taken part in UN peacekeeping missions over the past 60 years.

 

Got it.

I misread the Wiki, it did indeed say 'since the First World War,' not 'of the.' My mistake.

 

IMO it applies to everyone who is still free all these years later.

 

I meant as opposed to the Veteran's Day celebrated in the States, which is tomorrow and essentially the same holiday for us.

But I see what you're saying, and you're of course correct.

 

Lest we forget, indeed.

 

As the veterans of the "Great War" (WW1) pass away (there are still some left), we should never forget what those brave men endured to help keep us free.

According to Wikipedia there are still 22 known left who served on all sides in that war

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surviving_veterans_of_World_War_I

 

True that.Lest we forget.

 

Indeed. So many young men lost in such a pointless war. World War I never had to occur, which is not something you can say for the Second. My Grandfather actually lied about his age in 1914 (He was 15, born in Scotland, 1899) and enlisted. I still have his valour medal (he went out into no mans land attempting to bring an injured comrade back).

The way I see it, Remembrance Day is here so we never forget what so many were forced, or willing, to give up so that the powerful can wage war with one another.

 

I don't think anyone can overstate the importance of Rememberance Day and its equivilents in other nations, especially now that the appaling conflict that laid the foundations of the modern world is on the brink of leaving living memory.

On the topic of the First World War, I strongley recommend the mid-60s BBC series The Great War to anyone wanting to learn about it. Its basically the WW1 equivelent of The World at War, but its almost unheard of due to the fact that it disapeared into thier archives after its original transmission and wasen't dug out until the early 00s. It shows its age and it obviously suffers from the relative lack of film footage since its 26 episodes long, but you won't find a more comprehensive screen account of the conflict and its time of production means that it had ready acess to the first hand accounts that more recent efforts lack.