Britain does not have an Armed Forces Day, which had never struck me as odd until I looked at this range of topics and realized how many countries do!

Considering the achievements of our Armed Forces in the past and currently, I wonder what people in other countries make of this? Is it the alleged British tendency to self effacement and understatement? Or is it that except in time of all out war we do not really want to be bothered thinking about them.

Rudyard Kipling remarked on this British trait in late Victorian times; in part it went something like, 'it's Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy, GO AWAY but it's THANK YOU MR ATKINS when the band begins to play...it's Tommy this and Tommy that and CHUCK 'IM OUT, THE BRUTE, but it's THANK YOU MR ATKINS when the guns begin to shoot.
(Tommy Atkins = typical British soldier)

What we DO have is Remembrance Day, on November 11th at 11am, the anniversary of the cessation of hostilities in 1918 as the First World War came to an end. This has been commemorated annually since about 1921 at the Cenotaph in central London, where the Monarch leads the nation's tributes and in just about every village and town, where local War Memorials are inscribed with the names of the dead. The dead of World War Two were added after 1945.

Red poppies, symbols of the bloody experience of war, are bought and worn by many people of all ages,the money raised being used to aid ex-servicemen and women. A two minute silence is observed nationwide to remember the dead.

Coming in November, a time often of chilly, somber weather, this never fails to be a moving experience, but I don't think it's quite the same as an Armed Forces Day.

Learn more about this author, Mark Hopkins.
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