Associated Press
Queen Elizabeth II at Remembrance Sunday ceremony.
Britain honors its war dead, including 2 who died in recent days
LONDON - Queen Elizabeth II yesterday led Britain's annual ceremony for the country's war dead, honoring them with a moment of silence as the military reported that more than 200 British soldiers have been killed in combat in Afghanistan.
As Big Ben chimed 11 a.m., the queen joined thousands of troops, veterans and civilians in the traditional two-minute silence on Remembrance Sunday beside London's major war memorial, the Cenotaph. The silence was broken by a single artillery blast and the sound of Royal Marine buglers playing "Last Post."
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, and now pays tribute to the dead in all conflicts, including World War II, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defence said yesterday that two more British soldiers had been thrust into the ranks of the honored.
A soldier from the 2nd Battalion of The Rifles Regiment was killed in an explosion Saturday near Sangin in central Helmand province. Another soldier from the 4th Battalion of the Rifles died yesterday morning after being injured in an explosion near Sangin, the ministry said.
The latest deaths bring the total number of British forces who have died in Afghanistan since 2001 to 232, among them 201 British soldiers killed in combat. The others died of illness, non-combat injuries, accidents or in unconfirmed circumstances.
This year's ceremony was particularly poignant because the country's three last known British veterans of World War I - Bill Stone, Henry Allingham and Harry Patch - all died this year.
Many at the ceremony wore small red paper poppies sold by a veterans' charity. The poppies refer to the wildflowers common on Belgian battlefields in World War I.
Each year, thousands of paper poppies are placed in the Field of Remembrance at London's Westminster Abbey to remember those killed in war. This year, for the first time, the field also has plots filled with crosses and photographs dedicated to those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Britain is the second-largest contributor to NATO forces in Afghanistan behind the U.S., deploying about 9,000 troops with 500 reinforcements on the way.
A poll commissioned for the British Broadcasting Corp. and published yesterday indicates slipping public support for the war. The survey said 64 percent now believe the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable, up from 58 percent in a similar July poll.
