remember, remember, the 11th of november

It's 4.20am and I'm sat looking at my red poppy unable to sleep so figured I may as well do a post about it! Remembrance Sunday is another national tradition in which the soldiers who died in World Wars I and II, and consequently wars such as the Falklands War and the Gulf War, are remembered. It is held on the nearest Sunday to the 11th November as this is the day that peace was declared for WWI. The day is commemorated by church services around the country and a parade of ex-service personnel in London’s Whitehall. Wreaths of poppies are left at the Cenotaph, a war memorial in Whitehall, built after the First World War. By tradition, at 11:00am on Remembrance Sunday a two minute silence is observed at the Cenotaph and elsewhere in the country to honour those who lost their lives. The reason for poppies is to represent the poppies that grew in the cornfields of Flanders in the First World War where many thousands of soldiers lost their lives. The paper poppies that are worn today are made by ex-service personnel and are sold by representatives of the Royal British Legion, an organisation of ex-servicemen and women.