barns.blog

Ninety years ago, at the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month (11h00 11 November 1918) the Allied Forces and Germany signed the great armistice of World War One. Today we commemorate the fallen of The War and in doing so, the words of Laurence Binyon’s famous poem For The Fallen:

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. We will remember them.
For The Fallen – Laurence Binyon

Whilst this Armistice Day commemorates the culmination of the Great War, we have also commemorated the fallen of the many other wars which have torn the world. At 11h00 at the British Army Base in Basra, on Remembrance Sunday we began with the commemoration of those who continue to fall in the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is particularly true as we remember that this armistice marks the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front – the fighting still continued elsewhere. As we commemorate with two minutes silence today, I salute the fallen and all those who put themselves in the firing line for our safety and the security of the world.