IN NOVEMBER WE 'CHERISH PEACE'

How the world remembers those who died for Peace

In UK

Remembrance Day

The first Remembrance Day was conducted in 1919 throughout Britain and the Commonwealth.
Originally called Armistice Day, it commemorated the end of hostilities the previous year.
It came to symbolise the end of the war and provide an opportunity to remember those who had died.
After the end of the Second World War in 1945 Armistice Day became Remembrance Day
to include all those who had fallen in the two World Wars and later conflicts.
Millions of people fall silent at the 11th hour (11am), on the 11th day of the 11th month,
which is the day the First World War ended.
The silence is a time to remember all the people who died
in World War I and II, and all other wars.

The Cenotaph

Originally intended as a small part of the Peace Day events of July 1919,
the Cenotaph was designed and built by Edwin Lutyens
at the request of the then Prime Minister Lloyd George.
Such was the extent of public enthusiasm for the construction it was decided that The Cenotaph should become a permanent and lasting memorial.
On the Sunday nearest to 11th November at 11am each year,
a Remembrance Service is held at the Cenotaph to commemorate
British and Commonwealth servicemen and women
who died in the two World Wars and later conflicts.
The monarch, religious leaders, politicians, representatives of state
and the armed and auxiliary forces, gather to pay respect
to those who gave their lives defending others.

The Red Poppy

Some of the bloodiest fighting of World War I
took place in the Flanders and Picardy regions of Northern France.
The Poppy was the only thing which grew in the aftermath of the complete devastation.
"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."
An American War Secretary, Moina Michael, inspired by John McCrae's poem (above),
began selling Poppies to friends to raise money for the ex-Service community.
The first official Legion Poppy Day was held in Britain on 11 November 1921.
Since then the Poppy Appeal has been a key annual event in the nation's calendar.
The Poppy has become a symbol of remembrance for the nation.

The White Poppy

The white poppy was first introduced by the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1933
and was intended as a lasting symbol for peace and an end to all wars:
'A Pledge to Peace that war must not happen again.'
While the white poppy was never intended to offend the memory
of those who died in the Great War, many veterans felt that its significance undermined their contribution
and the lasting meaning of the red poppy.
Such was the seriousness of this issue that some women lost their jobs in the 1930s
for wearing white poppies.

Other memorials around the world:

Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park

The park contains very moving displays of the effects of the atomic bombing.
In front of the building is a statue called Mother and Child in the Storm
and the Fountain of Prayer.
Colourful origami cranes are left on most of the memorials, monuments and statues,
including theChildren's Memorial.
The cranes are in memory of the bomb's victims, and were inspired by a girl called Sadako
who contracted cancer in the mid-1950s
as a result of having been exposed to the bomb's radiation as a toddler.
She resolved to fold a thousand paper cranes, in the belief that if she did so
her wish to get better would be granted, but she died.

Sadako is represented on top of the memorial.
Today paper cranes still arrive in their millions and are distributed all over the park.

Washington DC World War II Memorial

Consists of the Rainbow Pool surrounded in a circular pattern
with 56 pillars to represent the unity of the US states and territories during the war.
Visitors enter the sunken plaza on ramps which pass by two giant arches
that represent the two fronts of the war.
Inside there is a Freedom Wall covered with 4,000 gold stars,
each representing 100 Americans who died during World War II.

Read about some of the many people
who have worked to bring about Peace:

Vera Brittain
Dick Sheppard
Martin Luther King
Mahatma Ghandi

Bob Geldof
has been named this year's Man of Peace by winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.
The title is bestowed annually for
"an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace".
A spokesperson for The Gorbachev Foundation and the World Summit of Nobel Laureates,
which is behind the award, said:
"The Man for Peace Peace Prize has been given to Bob Geldof for his unflagging work
and powerful voice on behalf of the poor of Africa
over the last 20 years and in particular the last 12 months.