Remembrance Day Ubon Ratchathani Information 2009

I had ventured down to N-Joy ( I am going to blog on N-Joy soon) the other weekend to meet a few friends I hadn’t seen for a little while. While I was there, Lance the publican asked if I knew about the upcoming Remembrance Day. I didn’t.

Here in Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand there will be a Remembrance Day ceremony being held at Thung Sri Muang Park, the main park here. Remembrance Day is always held on 11th of the 11th each year (11th of November).

I was surprised when I was informed of the service, it has apparently been held 3 times before, and this year will be the forth time. Last year the local government was involved and there was a large crowd on hand to pay their respects.

Ubon Ratchathani does in fact have a connection for some soldiers. The building of the Death Railway or Burma Railway. Towards the end of World War 2, Prisoners of War from the death railway were brought to Ubon Ratchathani. Some of these prisoners paid for a memorial to be built, which stands in Thung Sri Muang Park, to show their gratitude to the Ubon Ratchathani people for their humanity and kindness.

Remembrance Day Ubon Ratchathani 2009 Information:
Two days before Remembrance Day, (9th and 10th of November) there will be other ceremonies taking place, commemorating Ubon Ratchathani’s history.

Remembrance Day 11th of November 2009. Ceremonies will start from 9am by the local governor and other dignitaries, leading up to 11am, where a two minute silence will be observed.

It will be easy to find the Monument as there will be quite a crowd. After the ceremony you will be able to go to N-Joy, N-Joy is putting on some complimentary food and you can purchase and enjoy a cold drink

Picture from ventnorblog.com
Remembrance Day has a symbol, the Poppy. You can read the history on the poppy and where and why it was used at this link, a must read. I can remember buying poppies and also badges and pinning them onto my school shirt. You will be able to purchase a poppy on Remembrance Day, I understand but if you cannot attend you can also do this online as well or make a donation to a Returned Service League.

I have written about Anzac Day before which is remembered on April the 25th in Australia and New Zealand. Also another important day is Remembrance Day or formerly known as Armistice Day.

Remembrance Day, I can still remember so clearly now, having assembly at school and 1 minute of silence to remember the loss of soldiers from past wars. This was my basic understanding of Remembrance Day years ago. We were taught about the significance of the day but it wasn’t been until I matured, I learnt the terrible sacrifices that had been made by brave men and women.

As I have aged I have also read more, days such as Remembrance Day have taken a new meaning for me. I have the upmost respect on these days. When you read about the terrible loses of life from past wars, and also current conflicts, and also the soldiers who have been wounded in the line of duty. You cannot; not have the dignity, respect or gratitude to stop for 1 minute on the 11.11.2009 at 11am, to remember fallen soldiers, no matter which Commonwealth of Nations you are from.

Fallen soldiers of the past, Australia has now lost 102,811 (to the date of this post) fallen men and women in wars. Over 101,000 were from the World War 1 and 2, these past wars were brutal. When you read books that have extracts of diggers (soldiers) diaries, the writings are haunting. What some of the soldiers endured and seen would have been so horrific!

The sacrifices made by these men and women, have to be remembered. They fought for our countries as we know them today; if they hadn’t, then things could be a lot different now for many of us today.

And of course there are today’s conflicts and the people who say, ‘I don’t agree with current wars.’

It has nothing to do about agreeing or not agreeing. These men and women are doing a job like any other person; their job at times calls on them being placed in foreign countries, fighting against enemies that some people believe they should not be fighting.

Remember that soldiers take orders; they have a sworn oath to abide by. A few soldiers may have doubts about why they are at a certain place, fighting in a war, but they do their job, they do their job professionally like we try and do our jobs.

If you have resentment to any of these wars, take it out on the people who send the grunts (foot soldiers, yes/no sir soldiers) into these conflicts. Be that your government or whoever else you believe is to be blamed. Don’t blame the soldiers doing their job.

To all people in or near Ubon Ratchathani, make your way to Thung Sri Muang on November 11th, show respect to fallen countrymen and the sacrifices they have made for us, for our freedom of today.

View Ubon Ratchathani in a larger map
Thung Sri Muang is the little green soccer/football player
Brunty
P.S. As a sat waiting for the football to start (Birmingham City V Manchester City English Premier League) which just started at 11pm Thai time, now that we have entered the month of November they will be honoring the fallen soldiers with a minutes silence before each game.

It is an eerie thing, hearing an English Premier League crowd in complete silence. As soon as the whistle was blown by the referee for the minute silence to start, as the saying says, ‘you could have heard a pin drop’