This year- 2017- is just shy of 100 years since World War One ended. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the greatly welcomed Armistice was signed. The War was over. The Allies had won. However, despite the victory many lives had been lost or affected. It had been a bloody war, dragging ten million military personnel to their graves and injuring a further seven million. This was a war that would never be forgotten. Which is why, on the same day that the Armistice was signed, thousands of people throughout the country and indeed the world, remember those who died, for a cause, which was freedom and peace for the generations to come.
On Remembrance Sunday I went to a Remembrance service at the local church in Hook. On the eleventh hour we stood to remember those who had fallen. Our heads bowed with respect for the two minutes. We all had a poppy pinned to our left to symbolise our appreciation.
When the two minutes were finished, the 'Last Post' bugle sounded. Although not originally used in a memorial context, it soon became a way to mourn for those lost on the battlefield. Nearly a century on we still use the Last Post to remember the fallen. It is a moving piece of music, giving dignity to those who died in such a brutal way, so that we may have the freedom we do today. We will remember them, lest we forget.
