Police Mutual will be standing with the rest of the UK to mark Remembrance Day and to show our thanks to those who risked, and continue to risk their lives for us.

Annual Remembrance Sunday services, parades and events may be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic disappointing many people, but the key part of Remembrance is taking a moment to recognise those who have given their lives protecting this country.

History of the Royal Legion:

Formed on 15 May 1921, the British Legion has been supporting Service men and women, ex-serving personnel and their families. They bring together four national organisations of ex-Servicemen that had established themselves after the First World War:

• The National Association of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers
• The British National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers
• The Comrades of The Great War
• The Officers Association

Remembrance honours those who serve to defend our democratic freedoms and way of life. We unite across faiths, cultures and backgrounds to remember the service and sacrifice of the Armed Forces community from Britain and the Commonwealth.

In 2020, we pay tribute to all the men and women who served and sacrificed their lives and to those continuing to fight today, to defend our nation. We remember the cooperation of the Commonwealth and Allied nations who stood shoulder to shoulder, to secure our freedom and to bring communities together today, to protect us all.

History of the poppy:

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, who fought in WW1, shortly after losing a friend in Ypres 1915, wrote his now famous poem after being moved from seeing poppies growing through the battle-scarred fields.

In Flanders' Fields - John McCrae:

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.

The poem inspired an American academic named Moina Michael to adopt the poppy in memory of those who had fallen in the war. She campaigned to get it adopted as an official symbol of Remembrance. The red poppy symbolises both Remembrance and also hope for a peaceful future – which we continue to do.