November 11th: two countries, two types of commemoration

First Published on November 11th, 2014

Today is November 11th. In France, it is commemoration day, all the country remembers the soldiers and civilians who died during World War I.

In the United States, it is Veterans’ Day, they celebrate the veterans of all the wars waged by the country.

Two countries, two different types of commemorations.

While in France the official ceremonies are generally barely noticed by the “average French” (and I put myself in the lot) and that the day is appreciated mainly because today is holiday, in the United States it’s a completely different story.

Let’s talk first about official celebrations. Here in the USA too there are official ceremonies. But there are also all the small celebrations, for example at school. Indeed several weeks ago the Veterans were invited by the school of my children to participate to a ceremony in their honor:

In fact, when I hear “veterans” I usually think of very old gentlemen, whereas for this ceremony at school the veterans we are talking about are usually young women and men, student’s parents.

We (non-Veterans) were not invited to this “party” but this morning it was also the day of ceremony for 1st Quarter Students Award at school (the best students received a certificate and were applauded). And it was also the opportunity to remember and pay tribute to the Veterans:

Girls of 3rd Grade were dressed as cheerleaders and spelled the word “Veterans”:

The students of 4th Grade sang a song in honor of Veterans. And 2 students of 5th Grade read a text about the courage and sacrifice of Veterans. I remember in particular that the 1st student said “if Veterans were not there we would not have freedom of religion and even we would not be able to go to school” (which I thought was slightly exaggerated, but cute).

In fact here on November 11th is not only a day for official commemorations. Everyone (or almost) is involved.

There is for example Howard Schultz, chairman of Starbucks who wrote a book entitled “For Love of Country: What Our Veterans Can Teach Us About Citizenship, Heroism, and Sacrifice” released in early November.

There are also all those brands and companies that advertise on TV and radio in honor of Veterans, and those who celebrate Veterans by giving them a free product or a discount (as usually in the US, business and community life are quite interlaced):

A random example: Cafe Hon is a famous restaurant in Hampden, a neighborhood of Baltimore and celebrates Veterans in its own way:

Even the National Museum of American History in Washington (which I subscribe to the newsletter) takes the opportunity to ask for a donation on behalf of Veterans: