THE REASON WHY..
Just recently in one of my posts here I mentioned that we were entering the most dismal time of the year and I cited Halloween, Bonfire Night and the `festive period` as giving cause for my foreboding. You may have noticed however, that I did not include Remembrance Day in that list and the reason is obvious - it is a special day, one never forgotten especially by ex Servicemen and it deserves to be held with all due respect and dignity.
And I suppose that in all the hullabaloo about Halloween and the rest of it, it is easy to overlook the reasons why Poppy Day really is so special. So here`s a little history that I hope might put the day in its proper context.
On 7th November, 1920, in the strictest secrecy, four unidentified bodies of British soldiers were exhumed from temporary cemeteries, one at Ypres, one at Arras, one at Asine and one from the Somme. None of the soldiers who did the digging were told why. The bodies were taken by field ambulance to General Headquarters at St.-Pol-Sur-Ter Noise and once there, they were draped with the union flag. Sentries were posted and Brigadier General Wyatt, along with Colonel Gell, selected one of the bodies at random, following which the three remaining bodies were reburied. A French Honour Guard was selected and stood guard by the coffin of the chosen soldier overnight.
On the morning of 8th November a specially designed coffin made of oak from the grounds of Hampton Court arrived and the Unknown Warrior was placed inside. A crusader sword and a shield was placed on top with the shield being inscribed, "A British Warrior who fell in the GREAT WAR 1914-1918 for King and Country."
On the 9th November the Unknown Warrior was taken by horse drawn carriage through Guards of Honour to the quayside, to the sound of tolling bells and bugle calls. There he was saluted by Marshall Foche and taken aboard HMS Verdun, bund for Dover. The coffin stood on deck covered by wreaths and surrounded by the French Honour Guard.
Arriving at Dover the Unknown Warrior was met with a 19-gun salute - something normally only reserved for Field Marshals. A special train had been arranged to convey the coffin to Victoria Station, where it remained overnight and on the morning of 11th November the Unknown Warrior was finally taken to Westminster Abbey.
The concept of the Unknown Warrior was the idea of David Railton, a Padre who had served on the front line during the Great War and the union flag he had used as an altar cloth whilst serving at the front line was the same one which had been draped over the coffin. It was his intention that each of the relatives of the 517,773 combatants whose bodies had not been identified might believe that the Unknown Warrior might well be their lost father, husband, brother or son.
That is the reason why the poppies are worn and why, on 11th November each year, we remember them.
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A few years ago I remember being on the top of Pentire Point on the north Cornwall coast and happening to discover this plaque which marked the spot where the poet Laurence Binyon composed, "For the Fallen" which was first published in The Times in September 1914.
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