Ceremony marks UK entry into WWI
Four of the 23 known surviving veterans of the war will attend
A ceremony is to be held at the Cenotaph in London on Wednesday to mark the 90th anniversary of Britain's declaration of war on Germany in 1914.
At least four of the 23 known surviving veterans - all aged over 100 - will attend, with some reading out poems.
They will be accompanied by veterans minister Ivor Caplin, and Commonwealth high commissioners to London.
Wreaths will be placed at the Cenotaph on behalf of the Queen, the government and the Commonwealth.
The veterans include:
Henry Allingham, 108, from Eastbourne, East Sussex
William "Bill" Stone, 103, from Watlington, Oxfordshire
John Oborne, 104, from Porthcawl, Carmarthenshire
Fred Lloyd, 106, from Uckfield, East Sussex
The ceremony is scheduled to start at 1100 BST.
WORLD WAR I FACTS
Some 900,000 British soldiers died and two million were wounded during the war
British and German forces laid down their arms on Christmas Day 1914 for a game of football
In 1915 women took up men's jobs while they fought
The attack at Flers-Courcelette, at the Somme in 1916 saw the use of the first British tank
The Royal Family changed their name to Windsor from the German sounding Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1917
Over the course of the war Britain mobilised almost nine million soldiers
Following the lament of the Last Post and a minute's silence, the four men will lay wreaths for those slain between 1914 and 1918.
Mr Stone will lead the service as he delivers the exhortation before Mr Allingham, Britain's oldest known surviving World War I veteran, reads the Lord's Prayer.
First Mechanic Allingham, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, served with the Royal Navy Air Services at the Somme, Battle of Jutland and the third battle of Ypres.
Death toll
Mr Lloyd served with the Royal Veterinary Corps and risked death by taking horses to the front line on the Western Front.
War is not a wonderful thing to be remembered, but those who died must never be forgotten
Veteran Fred Lloyd, 106
He is expected to recite John McCrae's haunting 1915 poem In Flanders Field.
Mr Lloyd, who lost both his brothers between 1914 and 1918, said: "War is not a wonderful thing to be remembered, but those who died must never be forgotten. I'll be there for the lads."
Other guests will include Lord Kitchener, a great nephew of Kitchener, the head of the war ministry who rallied an army of a million men with his war-call "Britain needs you".
Dennis Goodwin, who runs the World War I Veterans Association which organised the events, said: "The event on Wednesday is not dissimilar to 4 August 1914, when we were unprepared and only able to muster a small standing army.
"We have only been able to muster a very small number of our veterans, although to get four there is incredible. The rest will be there in spirit only.
"The country must still recognise these men for what they did."
Germany declared war on France on 3 August, 1914, and Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August.
Some 900,000 British soldiers died in action in the conflict, and more than two million were wounded.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3532584.stm
Four of the 23 known surviving veterans of the war will attend
A ceremony is to be held at the Cenotaph in London on Wednesday to mark the 90th anniversary of Britain's declaration of war on Germany in 1914.
At least four of the 23 known surviving veterans - all aged over 100 - will attend, with some reading out poems.
They will be accompanied by veterans minister Ivor Caplin, and Commonwealth high commissioners to London.
Wreaths will be placed at the Cenotaph on behalf of the Queen, the government and the Commonwealth.
The veterans include:
Henry Allingham, 108, from Eastbourne, East Sussex
William "Bill" Stone, 103, from Watlington, Oxfordshire
John Oborne, 104, from Porthcawl, Carmarthenshire
Fred Lloyd, 106, from Uckfield, East Sussex
The ceremony is scheduled to start at 1100 BST.
WORLD WAR I FACTS
Some 900,000 British soldiers died and two million were wounded during the war
British and German forces laid down their arms on Christmas Day 1914 for a game of football
In 1915 women took up men's jobs while they fought
The attack at Flers-Courcelette, at the Somme in 1916 saw the use of the first British tank
The Royal Family changed their name to Windsor from the German sounding Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1917
Over the course of the war Britain mobilised almost nine million soldiers
Following the lament of the Last Post and a minute's silence, the four men will lay wreaths for those slain between 1914 and 1918.
Mr Stone will lead the service as he delivers the exhortation before Mr Allingham, Britain's oldest known surviving World War I veteran, reads the Lord's Prayer.
First Mechanic Allingham, of Eastbourne, East Sussex, served with the Royal Navy Air Services at the Somme, Battle of Jutland and the third battle of Ypres.
Death toll
Mr Lloyd served with the Royal Veterinary Corps and risked death by taking horses to the front line on the Western Front.
War is not a wonderful thing to be remembered, but those who died must never be forgotten
Veteran Fred Lloyd, 106
He is expected to recite John McCrae's haunting 1915 poem In Flanders Field.
Mr Lloyd, who lost both his brothers between 1914 and 1918, said: "War is not a wonderful thing to be remembered, but those who died must never be forgotten. I'll be there for the lads."
Other guests will include Lord Kitchener, a great nephew of Kitchener, the head of the war ministry who rallied an army of a million men with his war-call "Britain needs you".
Dennis Goodwin, who runs the World War I Veterans Association which organised the events, said: "The event on Wednesday is not dissimilar to 4 August 1914, when we were unprepared and only able to muster a small standing army.
"We have only been able to muster a very small number of our veterans, although to get four there is incredible. The rest will be there in spirit only.
"The country must still recognise these men for what they did."
Germany declared war on France on 3 August, 1914, and Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August.
Some 900,000 British soldiers died in action in the conflict, and more than two million were wounded.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3532584.stm
