New stamps mark Centenary of Armistice Day
1 January 0001
The stamps and First Day Cover (FDC) were designed by leading design house Red&Grey Design. Both the stamps, and a specially designed First Day Cover (FDC) envelope, are available from main post offices, from the stamp counters at Dublin’s GPO or online at irishstamps.ie.
Beautiful lines of poetry are featured on both stamps which are also embossed with the formal date and time of the end of the war, 11.11.11. One features the poignant closing lines of To my Daughter Betty, the Gift of God by Thomas Kettle on a green background. The second, lines from the memorable wartime poem In Flanders Fields by John McCrae on a striking red background.
Both are produced as International stamps (€1.50) and will carry the lines of Kettle and McCrae around the globe as well as into the collections of specialist philatelists and all those with an interest in the so called ‘Great War’.
WWI lasted four years, was fought on multiple battle fronts on land, sea and air across continents. It was a harsh and bloody conflict resulting in approximately nine million soldiers’ dead and 21 million wounded. The war ended formally on November 11, 1918, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
The armistice agreement or truce was signed between Britain, France and Germany in a railroad carriage in Compiégne, a French forest near to the warfront. Marking the official end of the war, Armistice Day also known as Remembrance Day and Veterans Day, is marked each year on November 11.
