Britain honors war dead as toll increases
Source: Agencies |
November 9, 2009, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
QUEEN Elizabeth II led Britain's annual ceremony for the country's war dead yesterday, honoring them with a moment of silence as the military reported the 200th British soldier killed in combat in Afghanistan.
As Big Ben clock chimed 11am, the queen joined thousands of troops, veterans and civilians in the traditional two-minute silence on Remembrance Sunday. The silence was broken by a single artillery blast and the sound of the Royal Marine buglers playing the "Last Post."
The remembrance service is held every year on the nearest Sunday to the anniversary of the end of World War I at 11am on November 11, 1918 and now pays tribute to the dead in all conflicts, including in World War II, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Defense Ministry said yesterday that one more British soldier had been killed in Afghanistan in an explosion on Saturday near Sangin in central Helmland province, the military said.
The latest death brings the total number of British forces who have died in Afghanistan to 231. The death marks the 200th British soldier to be killed in combat; the others died of illness, noncombat injury or accidents.
This year's ceremony was poignant because the country's three last known British veterans of World War I, Bill Stone, Henry Allingham and Harry Patch, all died this year.
Many at the ceremony wore red paper poppies sold by a veterans' charity, a symbol of the flowers that grew in the soil of Flanders Fields in Belgium, a key battle in World War I.
Each year, thousands of paper poppies are placed at London's Westminster Abbey to remember those killed in war.
As Big Ben clock chimed 11am, the queen joined thousands of troops, veterans and civilians in the traditional two-minute silence on Remembrance Sunday. The silence was broken by a single artillery blast and the sound of the Royal Marine buglers playing the "Last Post."
The remembrance service is held every year on the nearest Sunday to the anniversary of the end of World War I at 11am on November 11, 1918 and now pays tribute to the dead in all conflicts, including in World War II, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Defense Ministry said yesterday that one more British soldier had been killed in Afghanistan in an explosion on Saturday near Sangin in central Helmland province, the military said.
The latest death brings the total number of British forces who have died in Afghanistan to 231. The death marks the 200th British soldier to be killed in combat; the others died of illness, noncombat injury or accidents.
This year's ceremony was poignant because the country's three last known British veterans of World War I, Bill Stone, Henry Allingham and Harry Patch, all died this year.
Many at the ceremony wore red paper poppies sold by a veterans' charity, a symbol of the flowers that grew in the soil of Flanders Fields in Belgium, a key battle in World War I.
Each year, thousands of paper poppies are placed at London's Westminster Abbey to remember those killed in war.
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