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Military Remembrance Days Around the World

Memorial Day in the United States. Anzac Day in Australia. Remembrance Day in Britain, Canada, South Africa, Australia and other Commonwealth countries. Many countries hold a special day of remembrance each year to commemorate their soldiers who died in service, as well as non-service men and women who died as a result of military conflict.


Anzac Day

Australian and New Zealand

April 25th marks the anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli, the first major military action of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) in World War I. More than 8,000 Australian soldiers died in the Gallipoli campaign. The national Anzac Day holiday was established in 1920 as a national day of commemoration for the more than 60,000 Australians who had died during World War I, and since has expanded to include World War II, as well as all other military and peacekeeping operations in which Australia has been involved.


Armistice Day

France and Belgium

November 11th is a national holiday in both Belgium and France, held to commemorate the end of World War One hostilities “at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month” in 1918. In France, each municipality places a wreath its War Memorial to remember those who died in service, most including blue cornflowers as a flower of remembrance. The country also observes two minutes of silence at 11:00 a.m. local time; the first minute dedicated to the nearly 20 million people who lost their life during WWI, and the second minute for the loved ones they left behind. A large memorial service is also held northwest of Flanders, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of American, English and Canadian soldiers lost their lives in the trenches of ‘Flanders Fields.’


Dodenherdenking

Dutch Remembrance of the Dead

Dodenherdenking, held annually each May 4th in the Netherlands, commemorates all civilians and members of the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who have died in wars or peacekeeping


Source:https://www.thoughtco.com/military-remembrance-days-around-the-world-4048265




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