Armistice Day (11 November – dedicated by King George V) is the day in which the nations of the World War I allies remember the brave who died. It is known as Veterans Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in some countries. It seems fitting that we should have a list on the topic as our own way to say thank you to the many men and women who gave their lives for the protection of our way of life.
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 failing 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.
Sources: Google Images, Heritage of the Great War, and World War I Color Photos
very nice list
cool
great list i missed that series ‘war in colour’ or something this is cool
Wow. These pictures are amazing. For some, it’s hard to imagine they were not hand tinted, because the colors are so lively. I am very grateful for these glimpses into the past. I think, sometimes, it is difficult to imagine the horrors of war, but pictures in color, 90 years old or more, are an excellent reminder of the atrocities, and even loneliness, of war.
are these really color photos, or merely colored photos?
Illusioned guns on the list, g. Mad disrepect in South Korea as there they make a mockery of this day by calling it “Peperro Day”.
Respect.
sick
oh thank god finally a good list the last few days the lists were kinda boring but watever gr8 list guys
good stuff.
Colour photographs weren’t around then… Were they?? :/
Also, love the french uniforms.
Paul and PirateXxEsque: real color photography did exist at the time. In fact, believe it or not, the very first color photograph was taken in 1861 – that is 50 years before the first world war. Here is the first color photo from 1861 – it is a photo of tartan ribbon. Furthermore, check this out – stunning. Believe it or not this was taken before 1915! The Great War ended in 1918 so this well predates it. And here is a beautiful photo of a town taken in full color in 1877.
Just when you though it couldn’t get any better, check out this full color motion picture filmed only 4 years after the first world war ended (film: 1922).
Pictures are not that good. And the “Tartan Ribbon” picture is too grainy. Even my 5 MP camera can take better pictures. Bah.
Lol. just kidding people. I was trying to see how Jessica “Chicken or Tuna” Simpson would comment on this list.
Great list. Wonderful to see the past come alive.
They shall not grow old,
as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn;
at the going down of the sun, and in the morning -
We will remember them.
An English-language memorial service was held in Seoul cathedral on Sunday morning. At the time, Korea was a colony of Japan, which I have just found out, to my surprise, fought on the allied side in WWI. Korea has more than its fair share of memorial days of its own, having been almost obliterated during the Korean war.
That said, ppepero day is pretty bizarre. For those who don’t know, ppepero is a popular confection that can best be described as a straight, thin pretzel, sometimes hollow and filled with a flavouring, sometimes solid and dipped in chocolate. The connection is that the date 11/11 looks like sticks of ppepero.
This led to a classic moment in one of my English classes. We’d started talking about public holidays, then got on to “other celebrations”. Students explained ppepero day to me. I said “Why ppepero. Why not – pencils?” One middle-school student, who either has absolutely no sense of humour or is an absolute master of deadpan, said, totally seriously, “Food is more useful than pencils”.
NIce list
Bbebbero day is just an excuse to sell those things. It is a holiday created by Lotte. My little buggers were asking for it all day.
/You probably heard that from someone by now.
alth: thank you for adding that. I used “we will remember them” on the front page but not on the list. It is definitely appropriate here.
I live in Korea… I ate a lot of Pepero.
By the way, why is this topic on a World War list???
Koreans do this. The confectionary manufacturers figured out that they could sell twice as much chocolate if they marketed Valentines Day to one gender and created “White Day” on 14 March. I can’t remember which way round it is.
I was going to buy ppepero to give my students, but ended up not.
I’ve just checked. Lotte officially uses the transliteration “pepero”, so I’ll stick to that spelling if I have to mention this again.
ryan: where are you?
In case this all sounds too flippant, I had a great-uncle and great-great uncle killed in WWI. The g-g-uncle was one of the saddest stories in the family tree. They married at 18 and 19, and within a year they were both dead: him in Europe and her of pneumonia or something similar.
nyys: see comment 6.
Where in Korea?
“The War to End All Wars” has so faded from the minds of the world it seems. The atrocities so fierce, the conditions so horrid. The concept of British youth wearing gas masks amid sorrid mustard, the rotting flesh, human and equine, then returning home for High Tea, and then returning to Hell. I recommend to all never to forget this war and learn all you can about it. A great start is “The First World War” by Martin Gilbert. God bless the men and women who fought for freedom, thank you.
Fantastic list. Amazing photos.
And well said, rob.
What a horrific, terrible, godawful war. But then they all are.
Many, many thanks to all who served.
It’s veterans day today in the US. (Salutes)
Wow, how many people here teach English in Korea? I do as well and just got a boat load of Pepero from my kids.
Our generation cant even imagine what its like to live through a world war and get bombed in our home country.
Remembrance Day is a big deal in Canada. In Flanders Fields was written by a Canadian doctor – Lt.Col John McRae after he watched the death of a friend. It has become part of our fabric, every Canadian learns this poem in grade school and is taught its significance.
Don’t forget to pay your respects today. At 11:00.
WOW… i was amazed…!! i really wanted to be a soldier
i wonder if the makeup of the average young person today still has the sense of responsibility to answer a call like these men did in WWI and WWII.
i thank God that soldiers around the world were willing to put their normal lives aside to fight and die for something bigger than themselves.
God have mercy if our problems escalate to something so terrible like this again.
Good list, I appreciate the pictures on Veterans Day. I was also wondering if these pictures have been hand colored in or on a computer. If they could take color pictures back then, would the quality be this great?
Great list! I didn’t even realize that they had color photography during WWI!
95% of us Americans dont care what a Peperro is #13
bigski: don’t be that guy. that idiot american who thinks they are superior to the rest of the world. and especially don’t present yourself as some sort of representative of what the rest of us think.
when the first person said that in korea that call it “peperro day”, i was very interested. i was wondering if it was some sort of insult to our soldiers.
the soldiers who, by the way, make it possible for you to make pig-headed comments and not fear any sort of retribution.
Wow.
PS – Well said DiscHuker.
This reminds me of the movie “Fly Boys”. Great movie
In America they call it Veterans’ Day. In Britain we call it Remembrance Day. Does that signify any difference between our countries? I don’t know.
I was making a flippant comment to commenter #13 for a remark on how 95 % of the world dont like Americans because of Walmart ect.Im a U.S Navy veteran and I dont have anything but love for all veterans!! I dont need anyone to tell me about mine or as far as that goes to the rest of the world freedoms that U.S veterans had a little to do with.I`ll be an ugly American any time I read where someone makes negative comments about my country and I expect other people who are proud of there country to do the same.
Comment 27 DiscHuker: I think that the average young person today does have the same sense of responsibility to answer the call the the men in WWI and WWII. I have a lot of close friends currently serving in both the Marines and the Army and they are all for the most part serving in Iraq. I also had a close friend whose truck was blown up by a land mine and he lost a leg. We still have a lot of brave individuals out there fighting for us, our country, our freedom…And currently the men and women that are serving in Iraq are there by choice they were not drafted they are choosing to risk there lives for us. Thank you to all those people.
Great list! Just sat down to read a little before I headed out to our ceremonies, it is a fitting topic for today.
bigski: how about this for a change…don’t be an “ugly american”. respond to their comment with dignity and rationality.
pengi05: absolutely, we have fantastic standing armed forces. my question is more curious about the “average joe” that would be necessary to launch a world wide campaign they way it was for the two previous “great wars”.
These pictures really bring home the scope and tragedy of that almost forgotten war. I think we tend only to remember the sacrifices of our own countrymen (and women) and to demonize “the enemy”. Seeing color photographs makes real the faces and losses and beautifully, if not grusomely, illustrates the truly global impact of WWI. With the causes long forgotten, it’s easy to view German, Australian, French, British and American all simply as young men and women far from home and desperate to get back. Thank you for this.
DiscHuker I`ll do my best
awesome! im a senior in high school and i have always found WWI to be a very intersesting topic in history, no mans land and the trenches have always seemed like they would be pretty scary. have a good veterans day everyone! (im not sure what they call it in other countries, sorry)
Thank you for this list today. Great to see so many commenters who are moved by the subject and, like me, wowed by the amazing photographs.
Let us never forget those who’ve passed.
Lets all chill with throwing around comments about people and stereotypes that come with their countries. The way I see it countries are like sports teams people are loyal to their teams no matter what. Even if their leader sucks or their team is not playing so well people will wave their teams colors and cheer proud. So naturally people get angry when anyone has anything negative to say about their team. Also when a player goes down the whole crowd gets quiet out of respect. Thats what today is about being quiet and paying respects to all who lost their lives in war then and now.
I think it’s interesting that remembrance day is today in the US and UK, while in Australia we have Anzac day on the 25th of April, to commemorate the aussies who fought in gallipoli.
The pictures and sentiment are beautiful.
Here in Canada, our Remembrance Day is not just about WWI but every conflict that Canadian soldiers have been part of. It is a national holiday and a very big deal to many. We all wear poppies and take time to think of all the people affected by war in the past.
Lest We Forget…
Some people seem to confuse WW1 and WW2. WW1 was not at all a “war for freedom” as some people here seem to suggest. It was just a fratricide war between countries which simply and stupidly hated each other. Like previous wars, the defeated nations, weather it were the allies or not, would not have lost their “freedom”. They would have simply been defeated and humiliated (which was the case for Germany in WW1) and then left alone after a few years. For example, this was the case for France with its defeat against Prussia in 1871. After a relatively short occupation, France was left alone to rearm, decide its own fate and politics, and freely hate the Germans which in part led to WW1. It has nothing to do with freedom and its sometimes quite funny how some Americans think every war is about freedom, its like their vocabulary is limited to that word only, and justifies or explains any war.
Anyway great list. My grand-father, a french soldier, fought in the great battle of Verdun and met my grand-mother in Belgium when he was stationed there after this terrible and sadly useless war.
Pictures like that leave me in awe. Seeing something in color that you so often see in black and white really makes the time seem much more recent. Makes it seem much more realistic. If I ever imagine getting in a time machine and going back past 1950 I would have expect everything to be in black and white. I really appreciate the photos on the list and the ones you provide links to in the comments. Very amazing.
I also have to say I love Koreans. I had a roommate in college for while who became my best friend and he is Korean. He was in the Korean army and told me a lot that you don’t read about in the news are in encyclopedias. During the Korea war his grandfather and father (who was 7 at the time) swam from North Korea to South Korea to escape. I also love the food! Once he order this soup and it was one of the best things I’d ever tasted and it turned out to be pig intestines. Didn’t turn me off though. It’s amazing what you can learn from people of other countries and cultures. One of the most admirable people I’ve ever known came from New Zealand so even they aren’t half bad. Right Jamie?
I love photography so this list was extra enjoyable for me. What a great way to honor the Veterans.
And the poem In Flanders Fields always gives me chills when I read it.
Mom424 I was going to add the significance to the poem and you beat me to it.
Just to add to your thought: The poppies referred to in the poem grew in in Flanders where war casualties had been buried.
Thanks again jfrater, for posting this great list.
this was amazing.
What I consider my main degree is in Photography, and it is the art I pursue with the most vigor.
These photographs are a reminder of why I do so. Photography tells a story no words can convey. I look into these faces and see the faces of youth far from home, faces full of loneliness, boredom, fear bordering on terror, determination, and pride.
Seeing the juxtaposed images of the women working in the factory, at that time, obviously a man’s job, and children (thank God for children, who will always find a way to be children!), playing amidst the rubble, just hammers home the horror that is war.
It matters not what side one is on in a war, the innocents are all the same, innocents. They all feel the same terror, they all fear for their loved ones, they all just want life to return to normal.
These photographs are a powerful reminder of what today celebrates; of who today celebrates.
Thank you, jfrater, for the best of all possible lists.
Riley, we celebrate Veterans Day similarly here in America. It started on November 11, 1918 as Armistice Day in rememberence of the end of WWI, but quickly evolved into the broader definition you described in Canada. I’ve seen several forms of remeberence; some towns hangs signs listing the Name, rank and age of those currently serving from that town, most towns hold a parade and the grave sites of many veterans are marked with floweres or wreaths.
Good List – sad list
While humans walk this earth their will always be conflict.
Number 6 looks like a painting!
For those wishing to learn more about this ultimately horrifying example of industrial slaughter (between so-called God-fearing nations) and bravery coupled with endurance beyond normal comprehension, I would recommend the DVD of the historic 1930 film, “All Quiet on the Western Front”. Or Erich Maria Remarque’s novel on which it was based. Or the poet Robert Graves’s (ironic name) autobiographical “Good-bye to All That”. Also the moving Penguin Book of First World War Poetry. Prepare yourself in all cases with intestinal fortitude and a plentiful supply of tissues.
There are, of course, long filmic WW1 documentaries based on images of the time as well. Those cover the events comprehensively, but will not take you into the human heart of the horror, as do the above.
We should never forget the near futility of the conflict for the *ordinary* (in reality extraordinary) soldiers involved (unlike WW2), which left the survivors as a disillusioned generation. For a fact-based story of one who saw early through the cynicism, brutality and exploitation, refer to the splendid “Monacled Mutineer”, a fine British TV serial. The last of the Black Adder series with Rowan Atkinson treated the same theme as the blackest of comedies.
My eldest uncle, then a rather grown-up looking (just) 15-year-old schoolboy, lied about his age on the outbreak of the war in 1914, volunteered, and was accepted into army of the British Expeditionary force in 1914. Like Graves, he fought right through to the last day, survived and was seriously wounded at one point, though not effectively crippled. He shortly became one of the youngest NCOs in the British forces.
During one offensive he was part of a mass bayonet charge on the German lines with the objective of disabling several dominant machine-gun nests embedded in thick concrete pillboxes. Of the several hundreds headed for his particular objective, only about a dozen made it to shelter and crouch beneath the gun slits outside the fortification. The rest were simply mown down. I dearly hope the closest any of us will get to knowing what that situation must be like is the remarkable D-Day landing reconstruction in “Saving Private Ryan”. The ninteen-year-old public schoolboy lieutenant, the only officer to get through, collapsed and froze with nervous shock, like a climber who can move neither up or down. So my seventeen-year-old, veteran sergeant, working-class schoolboy uncle coolly took command and despatched the remaining soldiers to the various gun ports, ordering them to lob grenades inside the moment he blew the officer’s whistle. They wiped out the stronghold. For that he was awarded by King George V the highest medal other than the Victoria Cross that an NCO can attain. Ironically, the officer was given an even higher medal. Well, it was that or court martial and execute the poor bastard by firing squad for cowardice in those days.
A postwar incident highlights the vile home-front cynicism. Due to his serious wound, my uncle lost full control of his bladder. One night, returning home late at night from a work-shift on foot through woodland, he was taken short. This, unfortunately, was a notorious spot for prostitutes, and a police patrol arrested him. He was charged with indecency before the local magistrates court and found guilty, despite a full revelation of his war record and the consequences of his wound. But it didn’t end there. The word indecency also covered *****ual behaviour in those days. About two miles or more away in the same woodland, a young lady had also been caught short and arrested on the same night. She followed my uncle in court. The local paper reported their names together as being involved in an indecent act. That, of course was read by my aunt, his children, their neighbours, his workmates, et al. Luckily they all knew him for what he was, and their helpless anger was turned on the authorities.
I recorded this tale elsewhere in LV once, so my apologies to any who’ve come upon it for a second time.
On this 90th anniversary, a salute to the honour of your memory and valiance, uncle.
I’ve been taking a history of war class at my university and its really been eye opening to me. Especially since I’ve visited such places as Verdun, and Normandy in northern France and seen destruction that still persists to this day.
I’m so proud of the Canadian troops that lived, fought, and died in those conditions. They were really brave, and were always on the front lines, leading frontal assaults against impossible odds. When the Germans knew they were fighting the Canadians, they knew they had a tough day ahead of them… so much so that they nicknamed them stormtroopers…
Lest we forget…
11, 12, 19…. amazing.
Very, very cool. But let’s take the apostrophe out of number 14, shall we?
great list
perfect for veterans day