Remembrance Day: November 11
Remembrance Day is a public holiday in Bermuda.
On Monday, November 11, 1918, at the hour of 11 a.m., World War I officially came to an end with the formalization of the armistice treaty between the Allies and Germany. All told, over 15 million people were killed in the brutal conflict leaving lasting impressions on much of the world’s population.
Due to the significance of the events of not only World War 1 but also other wars that have taken the lives of so many, Bermuda—among many other countries—celebrates Remembrance Day.
History of Bermuda Remembrance Day
Like the rest of the British Commonwealth, Bermuda celebrates Remembrance Day. After the events of World War I, King George V declared that the day be observed, though some suggest that King George possibly picked up the idea from Edward George Honey who suggested the remembrance to Wellesley Tudor Pole.
The armistice was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne, France, with a set of terms laid out to Germany to terminate hostilities, remove troops, and surrender equipment.
William Edmund Smith is considered to be the first Bermudian soldier to perish during the war. He drowned when the ship he was on, the HMS Aboukir, was sunk on September 22, 1914. The last Bermudian to die from the effects of the war was Hayford Douglas Simmons on June 16, 1919.
Bermuda Remembrance Day Traditions, Customs and Activities
At the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps War Memorial in Victoria Park, Hamilton, a remembrance service is held to honor those Bermudians that fought during World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. After a traditional two-minute silence at 11 a.m., a colorful and energetic parade kicks off from the memorial, winding its way through the streets of Hamilton. The town of St. George also hosts Remembrance Day events, holding a parade in the town square and a service at the HMS Jervis Bay memorial.
Poppies are an inseparable part of the customs of this holiday. The source of this custom resides in the poem “In Flanders Fields” written by Canadian John McCrae and published on December 8, 1915. The poppy is mentioned in the poem, and it was chosen as an apt symbol for Remembrance Day due to the red color of the flower that bloomed across some of the bloodiest battlefields in Flanders. The poppies—real and artificial—are pinned on shirts, placed on graves, or formed into wreathes as a symbol of remembering the fallen.
On November 10, 2009, the Bermuda government announced the construction of a second war memorial to be built on the grounds of the Cabinet Office in Hamilton. The memorial will honor not only those Bermudians that served overseas, but also those that protected Bermuda’s shores. It’s not known if the memorial will be ready for 2010’s Remembrance Day.
