happy remembrance day

[Jock Scot]

I have changed the title for the OP. But before any others take apparent offense, Remembrance Day (or Armistice Day for some) is celebrated in the UK and many commonwealth countries by a poppy appeal by the returned services organizations. Poppies are sold starting several weeks before the event. Thus the day is often informally referred to as Poppy Day, not as a mark of disrespect but as a remembrance of the fields of poppies in Flanders and the numbers of soldiers decimated by the trench warfare of WW1.

Brian

Just to explain and not make an issue out of this. It is the word "Happy" that I am uncomfortable with as is, I suspect, Highland Logan. "The Day", Poppy Day, Remembrance Day is almost a sombre day for us, not unhappy, but happy would not be a word used to describe the occasion. My family, for instance, remember a nephew killed on the first day of the second Iraq War, an Uncle killed flying a Hurricane in the Battle of Britain, 11 assorted relatives killed in WW1, and I could go on. So for us in the UK and the Commonwealth "Happy" does not describe the day. Pride yes, wonder at the suffering yes, recognizing sacrifice yes, thanks yes, happy no.