At 11 am on the 11th day of the 11th month Britain (and the rest of the Commonwealth) stops for two minutes. We stop and pause in silence to remember those who fought and died. In the Great War, in the Second World War, and in many conflicts since then.
Although the main national Act of Remembrance was today, on Sunday, there will still be many ceremonies around the country on the 11th. November the 11th 2019 will the one hundredth anniversary of the first national two minutes Silence.
One might think that attendance at such things has dropped off as the years go by, but it has not. If anything, more people get up and go out to their local service now than twenty years ago. It seems though, that general observance of the Silence is dropping. Around a third of offices just keep going, and many think it’s fine to send emails etc. during the Silence, so long as you don’t talk.
Like with many things, we seem to be polarising. That portion of the nation that observes Remembrance does so with more commitment than was common a generation ago, but others ignore it, or treat it lightly, in a way that would not have happened twenty years ago.
The video here is from my place of work. It shows the wreath laying and the reading of the names from our own war memorial. As you can see, we do it right. The Sikh chaps in the pale khaki uniforms are members of the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs, a re-enactment group. Over 100,000 Sikh, Moslem and Hindu soldiers died in the two world wars.
I post it here for my BW friends so you can see a little of what our Remembrance is like. It’s not professional, but I hope you like it. Please do not post it elsewhere (but do let me know if it doesn’t work)
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.“
From, For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon
“When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today”
The Kohima Epitaph