Last updated: 29 July 2023
Today marks Remembrance Day.
Celebrated across many Commonwealth countries as Armistice Day, the day the fighting stopped. 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month marked the end of World War I in 1918. The Treaty of Versailles was officially signed on 28 June 1919.
Two minutes silence is held at 11am while poppies adorn the jackets of commoners and uniforms of servicemen standing side by side as they remember the fallen.
John McCrae’s touching war poem In Flanders Fields is often read out to accompany a Remembrance Day service. The Ode of Remembrance is read out with a solemn but hearty reply from the crowd of “We will remember them”.
In London, Whitehall will be closed between Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square for the wreath laying ceremony at the Cenotaph for the second day in a row.
Trafalgar Square will play host to a more public affair with the Royal British Legion holding Silence in the Square. Here members of the public can throw poppy petals into the fountains and mark remembrance with 2 minutes silence.
Those travelling around 11am, buses and tubes will likely ground to a halt. Buses from Fleet St, Strand and at Trafalgar Square will be on diversion due to the Whitehall closure. Don’t get upset, simply remember.
