Remembrance Day poem: Read In Flanders Fields here

Act or Remembrance will take place up and down the country this morning.

The Last Post will sound and be followed by a two-minute silence, as we remember all those lost in conflict.

The end of the silence will be marked by the Reveille.

Many will mark the occasion with a reading of In Flanders Fields, the war poem written by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.

On #ArmisticeDay, we remember the service of veterans from across the Commonwealth.

So far this year, our Commonwealth Veterans Programme has provided vital support to more than 4,000 veterans and widows.

WATCH: our delivery partner, the RCEL, mark their 100 years of work ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/huYI5PCrOr

— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) November 11, 2021

He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres.

It was first published on December 8, 1915 and is one of the most quoted poems from the First World War.

In Flanders Fields in full

In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow

         Between the crosses, row on row,

       That mark our place; and in the sky

       The larks, still bravely singing, fly

    Scarce heard amid the guns below.

    We are the dead. Short days ago

    We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

       Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

                              In Flanders fields.

    Take up our quarrel with the foe:

    To you from failing hands we throw

       The torch; be yours to hold it high.

       If ye break faith with us who die

    We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

                                In Flanders fields.