War veterans brave the rain on Remembrance Sunday

Heavens opened their doors yesterday morning drenching the hundreds who gathered to pay tribute to the victims of the two world wars at the War Memorial, in Floriana.

There was a heavy downpour just as the band of the Armed Forces of Malta signalled the beginning of the wreath-laying ceremony to mark Remembrance Sunday. The event, also known as Poppy Day and is celebrated in every Commonwealth country, attracted a crowd of onlookers, mostly tourists.

The rain did not dampen the spirits of the war veterans and their relatives who gathered round the memorial, even though many did not even have the flimsy cover of an umbrella.

Remembrance Day is actually celebrated on November 11, marking the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the signing of Armistice on November 11, 1918, that signalled the end of World War I. Special services are held at war memorials and churches in numerous countries on the second Sunday of November, the Sunday closest to November 11.

Wreaths were laid at the foot of the memorial by President Eddie Fenech Adami, followed by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Opposition Leader Alfred Sant, the Royal British Legion (Malta) chairman, the Chief Justice, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, ambassadors and constituted bodies.

The sun peeped through the clouds and the rain stopped the minute the ceremony ended, causing many to smile at the heavens' perfect timing.

The AFM band, a contingent from the Police Corps, together with a contingent of ex-servicemen from the Royal British Legion took part in the event coordinated by the National Festivities Committee.

Earlier in the day, a concelebrated Mass was said by the Metropolitan Chapter at St John's Co-Cathedral, in Valletta for the repose of victims' souls.

Many people donned poppies as part of the Remembrance Day Poppy Appeal Fund - a fundraising activity, organised by the legion's branch in Malta, to assist former Maltese servicemen and family members. The association between the poppy and war dates back to the Napoleonic wars when a writer saw a field of poppies growing over the graves of fallen soldiers. During the Battle of Ypres in 1915, Canadian Lt Col John McCrae was inspired to write the poem In Flanders Fields on sighting the poppies growing beside a grave of a close friend who had died in battle.

The poem goes: "In Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses, row on row, that mark our place; and in the sky the larks still bravely singing, fly scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved, and were loved, and now we lie in Flanders Fields."

The poem was a great inspiration in adopting the poppy as the flower of remembrance in the Commonwealth countries.