11/11/2009

Armistice Day Marks Passing Of WWI Veterans

A special Armistice Day service at Westminster Abbey has been held to mark the deaths of the last three remaining First World War veterans in the UK, who all died in the past year.

William Stone, 108, died in January, followed by Henry Allingham, 113 and Harry Patch, 111, in July.

The Queen laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, while the service, which was addressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, saw readings from Anne Davidson, the daughter of William Stone, and Andrew Orr Ewing, whose great-great grandfather Captain David Orr-Ewing fought in the battle of Jutland in 1916 and whose father, Lieutenant Colonel David Orr Ewing is currently serving in Afghanistan with the Black Watch.

The service was attended by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, along with former Prime Minister Sir John Major and Baroness Margaret Thatcher, while actor Jeremy Lyons read the Last Post by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

British soldiers serving in Afghanistan also marked Armistice Day with a two-minute silence at Camp Bastion this morning.

The traditional two-miniute silence, which is held at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to mark the moment the First World War ended with the signing of the Armistice Treaty, was observed across the UK this morning.

(KMcA/BMcC)

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