Six million of our people live on in our hearts. We are their eyes that remember. We are their voice that cries out. The dreadful scenes flow from their dead eyes to our open ones. And those scenes will be remembered exactly as they happened. – Shimon Peres
This nation holds the two minute silence to remember the end of the First World War on Armistice Day, also known as Remembrance Day.
Memorial services and two minute silences took place at war memorials, cenotaphs and churches across the country today. Great Britain still believes strongly in remembering those who fought not only in World Wars, but the more than 12,000 British Servicemen and women killed or injured since 945.
Remembrance day- a memorial day observed since the end of world war 1, is to remember and honour those who have paid the price for our freedom. Inaugurated by King George V, 11th of November every year is celebrated in various Commonwealth of Nations to recall the nation’s war dead for Armistice Day.
Armistice Day, which falls each year to mark the day in 1918 when the fighting in World War One was stopped, is followed by Remembrance Sunday on 13 November.
The Allies and Germany signed an armistice in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiegne in France at 05:00. Six hours later, at 11:00, the conflict ceased.
The Queen’s grandfather King George V started the tradition of the two minute silence across Britain and the Commonwealth in 1919.
In a letter to the British people, he said that the anniversary of the armistice marked the end of “carnage” and the “victory of right and freedom”.
He said: “All work, all sound, and all locomotion should cease, so that in perfect stillness the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead.”
The silence continues to be observed every year on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Marking it as an informal way of showing respect, Loughborough university holds an annual service of raising money for charity by planting or distributing poppies. This year, many people attended the silence at the university’s square, including nursery children, where poppies were laid in the fountains. A two-minute silence has been observed across the University campus to recall the nation’s war dead for Armistice Day.
People gathered at the university’s fountain, offices and other public places across the UK , paused for two minutes to commemorate the moment the guns fell silent for peace at the end of World War One.
A Field of Remembrance has been planted in the grounds of Lufbra University. The fields feature a combined total of 80 tributes of a poppy and personal message to someone who lost their life in the line of duty.
– By Aarzoo Snigdha
