Hundreds of veterans, serving personnel and members of the public marked Armistice Day at the National Memorial Arboretum.
The arboretum and its centrepiece white Portland stone Armed Forces Memorial, at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire, provided a backdrop for a service of sombre reflection.
The service was followed by hundreds of thousands of junior school children who watched over a live stream as part of the Remembrance Live Assembly project, to teach youngsters about why the nation remembers all those who have died in service.
As the final notes of The Last Post drifted away over the memorial – inscribed with more than 16,000 names of service personnel killed on active duty since the end of the Second World War, the only noise that could be heard above the silence was the wind in the trees.
The ceremony was one of dozens up and down the country marking 104 years since the guns fell silent as the First World War came to a close.
Mark Ellis, arboretum lead, told those gathered it was a time to “remember those who served and sacrificed for our country” and had given so much for future generations.
After the act of remembrance, trustee of the Royal British Legion Anny Reid delivered the exhortation – “We will remember them”.
Then the lone bugler from the Band of The Rifles played The Last Post with its final notes marking the beginning of the two minutes’ silence.
Reveille was sounded, and the Defence Minister Alex Chalk read the Kohima Epitaph.
Afterwards, the focus shifted to the central plinth of the Armed Forces Memorial, with wreath-laying, led by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, members of the emergency services and the MP for Lichfield, Michael Fabricant.
Later, the Duke and Duchess put the finishing touches to the planting of an oak tree on the site, which forms part of the Queen’s Canopy – a nationwide project to plant more than a million trees marking the late monarch’s Platinum Jubilee.
Earlier, Army veteran Major Rob Cross spoke about the importance of the Poppy Appeal and Armistice Day.
Retiring in 1997, he is the third generation of his family to have served with the Army.
As a Royal Engineer, his postings included three years in Aden in the Middle East in the 1960s, and in the latter part of his career he was awarded a disaster relief medal by the King of Nepal, after playing his part rebuilding and laying new bridges in the country after flooding in 1994.
But as a volunteer at the memorial arboretum, the 80-year-old said: “For me it’s also important we continue to have remembrance on a day-to-day basis, so it’s nice for me to see the children coming to this site, as part of school visits.”
Mr Cross, of Rugeley, Staffordshire, who designed and oversaw building of the arboretum site’s Gurkha Memorial, said: “It’s humbling to come here, and to see people grieving, paying their respects and marking these moments.”
