The Remembrance Day
-HOW IT ALL BEGAN-
Early in____________________________, soldiers were quick to notice that blankets of red ______________ the first signs of life to appear on devastated ________________________ of Western front. Burying a close friend and comrade who had been _____________________ on may second ______________, a Canadian _____________, lieutenant-colonel John ___________
noticed how the bright flowers were pushing through the newly dug ________________. Patched in the back of the field ambulance, he contemplated the scene and in a creative outburst of just __________minutes painted one of the most famous ___________of all time:
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…
McCrae didn’t like his poem at first, he crumpled paper was written on threw it away. But his fellow _______________ admired it and _______________________ him to submit it for publication, having been rejected by _________________ magazine, it was first published by Punch magazine on ____________ eight __________________. The poem inspired the use of __________________ poppies as a symbol of __________________________ champion by two women an American academic Moina Michael and Anna Guérin from France, they encourage the newly-formed British Legion to buy __________ millions silk poppies for what would become the First poppy __________________ in __________________. This raised today’s equivalent of _____________ millions pounds with welfare veterans and the care of their families. _______________ years later the poppy appeal still raises funds for this _________________, the poppy __________________ a symbol of remembrance and _______________ and In Flanders fields is one of the best-loved well-known poems in English language. McRae himself died of _____________________ towards the end of the war, his body remains in France but his poem lives on.
The poem :
In Flander's 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 falling 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.
(Written by Liet.-Col. John McCrae, a Canadian serving at Ypres.
Vocabulary :
The Remembrance
To blow Row and row The larks Scarce Amid Sunset glow A quarrel The foe
THE 11TH HOUR OF THE 11TH DAY OF THE 11TH MONTH (The poppy day)
Remembrance Day is also known as Poppy Day, and in America it is called Veteran's day. It was first observed in 1919, however until 1945 it was called Armistice Day. Traditionally there is two minutes of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month because that was the time (in Britain) when the armistice became effective in 1918.
Today, in the UK Remembrance Sunday is also observed on the Sunday nearest to November 11th. So, in the United Kingdom, two minutes’ silence is observed on November 11 itself, and on the second Sunday of November. Remembrance Sunday, ceremonies are held at War Memorials, all over the UK and over the years it has become a day to commemorate not just the sacrifice of servicemen and women but the suffering of civilians in times of war.
Remembrance Sunday is commemorated by church services around the UK and a parade of ex-service personnel in London’s Whitehall. Wreaths of poppies are placed on war memorials from the Cenotaph, a war memorial in Whitehall, to the tiniest war memorials in villages all over Britain. Small wooden crosses are placed in Gardens of Remembrance as private acts of remembering individual losses and suffering and people pin poppies to their coat or jacket.
History states that it was the poem 'In Flanders Fields' written in 1915 by Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian Medical Officer, that captured the imagination of the British people in the dark days of trench warfare on the Western Front when so many young soldiers failed to return.
Britain's first Poppy Day was held in 1921 and the money raised helped children in war-devastated areas. The Royal British Legion opened its own poppy factory in London in 1922 to give practical help in time of need to all who have served in the armed forces and their widows and dependents. The paper poppies that are worn today are made by ex-service personnel and are sold by representatives of the Royal British Legion, an organisation of ex-servicemen and women. Today, they make more than 35 million poppies and 65,000 wreaths for the annual poppy appeal.
Wreath : couronne
Worn : To wear, wore, worn
After reading the document carefully, check if each statement is correct or incorrect about the Remembrance Day. Then, tick the right or wrong box. If it is wrong, give the correct sentence.
R W The correct statement:
1 The Remembrance day takes place only in UK 2 The 11th of November is a public holiday (or
Bank holiday) in UK.
3 The Remembrance commemorates only the loss of soldiers from WW1 & WW2.
4 People pin poppies to their clothes.
5 The funds helped WW1 veterans find employment and housing after the war.
6 The paper poppies are made in China.
7 The Royal British Legion is a political organisation.
8 The factory still produces millions of poppies each year.
