Posted on 11/14/2004 2:05:15 PM PST by tjwmason
The Queen led the tributes to Britain's war dead at the Cenotaph in London on Remembrance Sunday.
Following a two-minute silence, the Queen laid a poppy wreath in memory of the dead, including 21 troops killed in Iraq this year.
Her grandson Prince William took part in the National Service of Remembrance for the first time.
Political leaders, including Tony Blair, joined some 9,000 veterans from 20th century conflicts at the event.
Two-minute silence
The Queen, dressed in black, emerged from the old Home Office building in Whitehall just before 11am and took up her position facing the Cenotaph.
At the first stoke of Big Ben at 1100GMT, a single round was fired from a field gun to signal the start of a two-minute silence.
The boom of a second round of cannon fire, from the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery positioned on Horse Guards Parade, broke the silence.
The Prince of Wales, who is 56 on Sunday, laid a poppy wreath, along with the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of York, the Princess Royal and Duke of Kent.
Mr Blair and other political leaders, including for the first time Northern Ireland's Rev Dr Ian Paisley, then laid wreaths, followed by Commonwealth High Commissioners and military top brass.
When all the wreaths had been laid, there was a short religious service conducted by Bishop of London Richard Chartres.
Prince William, with Sophie, Countess of Wessex, was watching the wreath-laying and march past from a first-floor balcony in the Foreign Office, overlooking Whitehall.
The Normandy veterans led the march as the military mass bands played the March of the Veterans of Normandy.
Representatives of the War Widows' Association marched with the ex-service contingent.
As well as the 9,000 veterans marching or taking part in wheelchairs, some 1,500 civilians were also on parade.
And the Princess Royal, who is Commandant-in-Chief of the Women's Royal Naval Services, took the salute at Horse Guards of the columns of ex-servicemen and women taking part in the traditional march pass.
Across the rest of the UK, cities and towns held their own services.
Prince Edward led the laying of the wreaths in Edinburgh.
First Minister Jack McConnell said it was important to honour those who had made the ultimate sacrifice.
In Northern Ireland the main service was held in City Hall in Belfast.
Almost 50,000 people from Ireland died in the First World War.
In Llandudno, north Wales, the brother of Llywelyn Evans, the first Welsh solder to die in the Iraq war, laid a wreath.
May all of the fallen rest in peace.
Does the red poppy in Prime Minister Tony Blair's lapel symbolize war dead? Is it a poppy? Is that from the poem with "poppies grow in Flander's Field?"
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.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
...Lt. Col. John Macrae
1915
We also wear the red poppy here in Australia on November 11 for Rememberance Day; we pause for a mintues silence at the 11th hour of that day.
We wear the red poppy here in the states on our Memorial Day which is May 30th.
Armistice Day, November 11, for the end of WWI was once observed here as such.
Then we split the days of remembrance.
November 11th became our Veterans' Day to honor our living veterans of war, and May 30th (which used to be called Decoration Day to honor the war dead with flowers/flags on their graves) became Memorial Day to remember our war dead.
This way we can have a happy parade for Veterans on November 11 without having our pride in them overshadowed by sadness for those who gave "the last full measure of devotion."
In memory of the men of the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry who fell in the battle of the Somme.
The Queen, God Bless her!
Besides Rememberance Day (armistace day)the big day for our veterans is Anzac Day (April 25). That's when all the "diggers" march in parades in each capital city; it is a big reunion day but also a day of sadness and rememberance. A day when you remember those brave young men and women who sacrificed so much for all of us.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.