angelophile | The Importance of Remembrance

The Royal British Legion is acknowledged as the leading Service charity safeguarding the welfare, interests and memory of those who have served in the Armed Forces.

The word “memory” is significant. As de facto custodian of Remembrance in the UK, the Legion is charged - under the terms of its Royal Charter - with organising “Festivals of Remembrance, services and parades to perpetuate the memory of sacrifices made during service with Our Armed Forces in war and peace”.

Remembrance is at the heart of the Legion’s activities. For most of this century, it has been an annual tradition that each autumn, the nation’s thoughts turn to Remembrance and to events inspired and co-ordinated by the Legion.

Remembrance is symbolised in many ways:

· Poppy petals falling gently down onto the heads of the silent Service men and women at the end of one the most popular and emotive televised events of the year - the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.
· The Parade and Service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall on Remembrance Sunday.
· Poppy Appeal collectors out on the streets in all weathers at the end of October and beginning of November.
· Most of the population spontaneously pausing at 11 a.m. on 11 November

A time for Silence, a time for Reflection

The observance of a silence, heads bowed in reflection and prayer - these and other solemn acts transcend boundaries and borders. In themselves, they may amount to small individual acts. Carried out at the same time, they can go from “individual” to “collective” - rare moments when whole nations can stand together, remember and reflect on the price and value of freedom.

For The Royal British Legion, Remembrance is an almost daily occurrence. Formal Legion meetings are preceded by an “Act of Homage” using the words from “The Fallen” by Laurence Binyon:

“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.”

And in the Legion’s own words, to promote the observance of the Two Minute Silence on 11 November, “If we are to maintain our peace and freedom, we must always remember.”