Dubai expats honour Remembrance Day

A somber ceremony on Remembrance Day saw the British expat community observe two minutes silence last week.

Around 200 expats attended the Poppy Day ceremony which was held at the residential gardens of the British Embassy compound. Also in attendance were troupes of local scouts, brownies and girl guides from across the city.

Traditionally, Remembrance Day services are held on the eleventh hour on the eleventh day on the eleventh month, or on the nearest Sunday at some places in the UK. The time signifies that moment that, after four years of fighting The Great War, the Allies and the Germans finally signed the Armistice treaty bringing to a close one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history.

For British people, Remembrance Day also commemorates the lives of those who perished in subsequent wars including WWII, Falklands, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Attendees, who included the Embassy Consul General Guy Warrington, claimed that the act of remembrance is particularly fitting in today’s world where bitter conflict continues. The service signifies the recognition of lives lost but also should serve as a reminder to new generations that tragedies need not happen again.

The Embassy gates were manned by members of the British Royal Legion selling poppies. The proceeds of the sale of the paper flowers goes to supporting social, emotional and financial assistance for those who have served or are serving in the armed forced and their dependents.

Poppies were the only living thing on the fields of France and Belgium after the war finished. They were immortalized in the poem In Flanders’ Fields by John McCrae, the traditional reading at Remembrance Day services.