Wardogs Football

U.S. Veterans Day

Canadian Remembrance Day

Honoring those who serve the cause of freedom

On November 11, the United States and Canada celebrate holidays that have great meaning for both countries and for the entire world. In the U.S. the holiday is called Veterans Day; in Canada it is known as Remembrance Day.

Each year, the day is set aside to acknowledge and remember the sacrifices of those men and women who have served in their nation’s military. The date was chosen to memorialize the signing of the armistice that ended World War I - "the war to end all wars" - in 1918, and to honor the living and the dead who served in that terrible conflict. Over the years, the holiday has expanded to include the veterans of all the armed services, those who have served in battle and those who have served their countries in other ways.

Though each country has different customs related to the holiday, it’s expected that in many places schools, veterans groups, local governments and community organizations will make efforts to pay their respects - with parades and ceremonies, by sharing patriotic songs and essays, by the ringing of bells and gun salutes, by moments of silence or by simply sharing personal memories.

Though the wearing of poppies in the U.S. is traditionally done on Memorial Day, the practice began in Canada on Remembrance Day in response to a poem, "In Flanders Field," written in 1915 by Colonel John McCrae, a surgeon who was stationed in Belgium in the Canadian Army. Seeing row after row of crosses marking the graves of soldiers buried there, McCrae was moved to make a statement about the loss that he witnessed and our obligation to remember what we owe to all those who serve:

If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.