This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Remembrance Sunday 2004
11/10/2004
The Queen has decided that November 14 shall be observed
as Remembrance Sunday.
The customary two minutes silence will be observed from
11am.
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of
Scotland, Dr Alison Elliot, said:
"Remembrance Day is an opportunity to direct our
attention to the personal cost of war.
"War is possible because we can rob people of their
individuality, think of them only as friend or foe and as
instruments of a cause or a policy.
"In remembering those who gave their life in the
conflicts of the past, we restore to them their full
identity and allow their own story to be heard.
"These are stories of courage and of loss, of commitment
and accident, of hope and despair and fear.
"Predominantly, they are still the stories of those who
chose to do the will of their country in some capacity in
the armed forces, but they are joined today by aid workers,
journalists, people on business, on holiday, bystanders,
children.
"The tight script of the First World War, with combatant
roles clearly defined, has been overtaken by a much messier
spectrum of conflict.
"This year, the refugees of Darfur, the hostages in
Iraq, the citizens of Baghdad and the children of Beslan
take their places alongside the fallen of the Somme. Their
story is our story. And we remember them."