“Abide with Me”. Sung By: The Military Wives Choirs. The Unknown Warrior Is Laid To Rest In Westminster Abbey on 11 November 1920.

“Abide with Me”.

Sung by: The Military Wives Choirs.

Available on YouTube

HERE

On 11 November 1920, The Unknown Warrior was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey as a symbol of all those lost in war.

In 2020, to mark the centenary of the burial, The Military Wives Choirs were commissioned by Westminster City Council to re-imagine “Abide with Me”.

This much-loved Hymn, as sung in the Abbey during the original service on 11 November 1920, became the first-ever electrical recording sold to the public.

Members of The Military Wives Choirs from across the United Kingdom came together to create this tribute to The Unknown Warrior, and to bring his story to a new generation.

The Cenotaph on Whitehall in London is designated as the United Kingdom’s primary War Memorial. It commemorates the dead of both World Wars and all subsequent conflicts.

Photo: 14 April 2014.

Source: Own work.

Attribution:

Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia /CC BY-SA 4.0

Author: Godot13

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,

unless stated otherwise.

Royal Navy Destroyer HMS Verdun.

Photo: 16 April 1943.

Source: This photograph FL 10470 comes from the collections of the Imperial War Museums (collection no. 8308-29)

Author: Royal Navy official photographer

(Wikimedia Commons)

HMS Verdun was an Admiralty V-Class Destroyer of the Royal Navy which saw service in the First and Second World Wars. 

So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name “Verdun”, after the Battle of Verdun.

She was assigned to carry the remains of The Unknown Warrior home to Britain on 8 November 1920.

After the “Warship Week” National Savings campaign in March 1942, HMS Verdun was adopted by the seaside town of Hoylake in Cheshire.[6]

HMS Verdun was placed in Reserve after VE Day and then sold to be scrapped at Granton, Edinburgh, in April 1946.[6] 

Her Ship’s Bell now hangs on a pillar in Westminster Abbey, close to the Tomb of The Unknown Warrior.[7]

The Cenotaph is a War Memorial on Whitehall in London, England. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it was unveiled in 1920 as the United Kingdom’s National Memorial to the dead of Britain and the British Empire of the First World War, was re-dedicated in 1946 to include those of the Second World War, and has since come to represent the Commonwealth casualties from those and subsequent conflicts. 

The word Cenotaph is derived from Greek, meaning “Empty Tomb”. Most of the War dead were buried close to where they fell; thus, the Cenotaph symbolises their absence and is a focal point for public mourning.

The original temporary Cenotaph was erected in 1919 for a parade celebrating the end of the First World War, at which more than 15,000 servicemen, including French and American soldiers, saluted the Monument. More than a million people visited the site within a week of the parade.

Calls for the Cenotaph to be rebuilt in permanent form began almost immediately. After some debate, the government agreed and construction work began in May 1920. Lutyens added entasis (curvature) but otherwise made minimal design alterations. 

The Cenotaph is built from Portland Stone. It takes the form of a Tomb Chest, atop a rectangular Pylon, which diminishes as it rises. 

Three flags hang from each of the long sides. The Memorial is austere, containing almost no decoration. The permanent Cenotaph was unveiled by King George V on 11 November 1920 in a ceremony combined with the repatriation of The Unknown Warrior, an unidentified British serviceman to be interred in Westminster Abbey.

After the unveiling of the Cenotaph, millions more people visited it and The Unknown Warrior. The Memorial met with public acclaim and has largely been praised by academics, though some Christian organisations disapproved of its lack of overt religious symbolism.