Remembrance Sunday

Remembrance Sunday, observed on the second Sunday of November, is the United Kingdom's principal day of commemoration for members of the armed forces who died in the line of duty, particularly in the two World Wars and later conflicts. The day is centered on the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London, attended by the monarch, senior politicians, military leaders, and veterans, featuring the laying of wreaths of red poppies and a two-minute silence observed at 11 a.m., echoing the moment the guns fell silent at the end of the First World War on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918. Similar ceremonies take place simultaneously at war memorials in towns and villages across the country, often organized by local branches of the Royal British Legion, the charity responsible for the annual Poppy Appeal that funds support for veterans and their families. The red poppy itself draws its symbolism from the poem 'In Flanders Fields,' written by Canadian physician John McCrae in 1915, describing the flowers that grew across the churned battlefields of the Western Front. While Armistice Day itself falls on the fixed date of November 11th, Remembrance Sunday is the larger, more widely attended national ceremony.