Happy Veterans day?!

I am a member on a predominately American message board and as I was checking it out I came across a posting which was titled "Happy Veterans Day", now I know that November 11 has a different meaning in the US, but I actually felt offended (not sure if thats the right word).  The person who made the post is young, so I really doubt they have any idea of what Nov 11 means in other countries.

 

I know this seems like a strange post, but I'm bored and the dog won't sit and listen to me,

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Happy Veterans day?!

Funerals, in general, are more a celebration of the deceased persons life now.

 

Hello Am*3! Smiley Happy

 

I think that's how these "holidays" are looked at here, focus on the positives. I never really thought about it till I saw the question here.

 

I am wondering, what do you all say when greeting (while giving a nod to the day) on this kind of day?

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Happy Veterans day?!

Hi jimmeh.

 

I am from New Zealand orginally and ANZAC Day, 25 April, is the national day of remembrance there. (which is a public holiday in NZ as it is here). Red poppies are worn on this day.

 

Remembrance Day in Australia is not a public holiday.

 

I found this interesting:

 

After the end of the Second World War, the Australian and British governments changed the name to Remembrance Day. Armistice Day was no longer an appropriate title for a day which would commemorate all war dead.

 

In Australia on the 75th anniversary of the armistice in 1993 Remembrance Day ceremonies again became the focus of national attention. The remains of an unknown Australian soldier, exhumed from a First World War military cemetery in France, were ceremonially entombed in the Memorial's Hall of Memory. Remembrance Day ceremonies were conducted simultaneously in towns and cities all over the country, culminating at the moment of burial at 11 am and coinciding with the traditional two minutes' silence. This ceremony, which touched a chord across the Australian nation, re-established Remembrance Day as a significant day of commemoration.

 

Four years later, in 1997, Governor-General Sir William Deane issued a proclamation formally declaring 11 November to be Remembrance Day, urging all Australians to observe one minute's silence at 11 am on 11 November each year to remember those who died or suffered for Australia's cause in all wars and armed conflicts.

 

http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/remembrance/tradition/

 

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Happy Veterans day?!

I don't know if we say anything. You can wear a poppy which gives a quiet acknowledgement. Maybe others exchange a greeting in other parts of Australia?
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Happy Veterans day?!

It's interesting reading the history, am3. I grew up calling 11th November Armistice Day, despite being born years after the end of the war, and didn't realize that that was incorrect until now. I guess that came from my parents and grandparents and old habits die hard.
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Happy Veterans day?!


@am*3 wrote:

Hi jimmeh.

 

I am from New Zealand orginally and ANZAC Day, 25 April, is the national day of remembrance there. (which is a public holiday in NZ as it is here). Red poppies are worn on this day.

 

 


Red poppies are more traditional for Rememberance Day than Anzac Day.  Rosemary is the tradition for Anzac Day and always has been.

I can remember as a child at school we were asked to bring Rosemary to school the week before the Anzac march for collection by the Red Cross.  It was broken down into sprigs and handed out in the streets to marchers as well as spectators.  It was very rare to see anyone without a Rosemary buttonhole on Anzac Day.

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Happy Veterans day?!

NZ'ers wear poppies on ANZAC Day only, the first part of that post of mine was about NZ.

 

 

I saw rosemary sprigs in small boxes on the counter in our local  Woolies on 11/11 this week (NSW), for customers to take if they wanted too. Maybe it varies from state to state, place to place.

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Happy Veterans day?!

Sorry, I did not realise you were talking about NZ with the red poppies.

 

The red poppies are quite recent here in Australia for Anzac Day....they were always associated with Rememberance Day.  As far as I know all Australian states have the tradition of Rosemary for Anzac Day although it is definitely falling off since I was young.  My grandmother's generation who lived through WW1 always had it growing in their gardens...the bushes all got a good pruning in time for Anzac Day.

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Happy Veterans day?!

Our local primary school has a large memorial with the names of the fallen and a flagpole inside the front gate and is a focal point on Anzac Day for the community. When renovations were done, rosemary, tall and prostrate was planted around it.

My mother was born on Anzac Day and apparently everyone tried to convince my grandparents to call her Rosemary.
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