We Will Remember Them.......

Queen Elizabeth II will lead Britain's annual ceremony for the country's war dead Sunday, including troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As Big Ben chimes 11 a.m., the queen will join thousands of troops, veterans and civilians in the traditional two-minute silence on Remembrance Sunday. The silence is broken by a single artillery blast and the sound of the Royal Marine buglers playing the "Last Post."

Each year, thousands of poppies are placed in a field _ called the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey _ to remember all those killed by the war. This year the field also has plots dedicated to those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, filled with crosses and photographs of the dead.

The remembrance service is held every year on the nearest Sunday to the anniversary of the end of World War I at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918. It comes a few days before Armistice Day, held on Nov. 11 _ the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

The last three known British veterans of World War 1 _ Bill Stone, Henry Allingham and Harry Patch _ all died this year.

Wild red corn poppies grew in the churned-up soil of Flanders Fields in Belgium, one of the key battlegrounds of World War I. At this time of year, thousands of Britons wear small red poppies made out of paper and sold by a veteran's charity.

Remembrance Sunday now pays tribute to the dead in all conflicts, including World War II, the British personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001 and those who have died in Iraq since 2003.

We Will Remember Them ..........