"They don't commemorate as much in Belgium as they do in Britain".
That may seem like, well, overkill, but the Somme, like Gettysburg, Gallipoli and other battles stretching back to Thermopylae, will continue to be commemorated as long as fortitude under fire continues to be admired.
Like the mythical magpie, we have collected objects to beautify and commemorate as long as we, as a species, have been able to beautify and commemorate.
Columbia Masterworks (now Sony Classical) commemorated them as well, releasing the video soundtrack in a six-volume, 17-LP set.
People choose to wear the white poppy for several reasons, whether it be to commemorate civilians as well as soldiers or in protest of current and future wars.
The city's Department of Education originally urged schools to treat the anniversary as a normal day, or to commemorate it as quietly as possible.
The memory of those who have fallen in war will be commemorated as the annual Poppy Appeal begins today.
(June 4, or 6/4, is the day generally commemorated as the anniversary of the military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square movement).
(A century later, Washington's birthday became a national holiday, now commemorated as a great time to buy a new car).
In the end, because ousting destructive governments is so traumatic, and so fateful, that evening 20 years ago deserves to be commemorated as a triumph for human dignity.
