CWGC participates in a special Remembrance Day for Schools with Italian students

On Thursday 10^th November, 140 students from secondary schools in Rome, Anzio, and Bracciano attended a special Remembrance Day for Schools.

The event took place at Villa Wolkonsky, the residence of the British Ambassador to Italy and San Marino, organized by the British Embassy in Italy in cooperation with Pearson, the British Council and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

After a welcome speech by HM Ambassador, the Rt Hon Edward Llewellyn OBE, students and their teachers attended a series of presentations, covering:

• Remembrance Day traditions in the UK & the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal
• The work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The history of the Unknown Soldier, presented by the Italian General Commissariat for the Honors of the Fallen (Commissariato Generale per le Onoranze ai Caduti)

A series of emotive war poems, such as In Flanders Fields and The Soldier, were recited too.

Attendees were also given the opportunity to create their own remembrance message on CWGC wreathes to take back to their schools.

The event also offered the opportunity to present to the students the three CWGC cemeteries closest to them: Rome War Cemetery and the other two just an hour away from the capital, Anzio Beach Head Cemetery and Anzio War Cemetery, where they are now planning visits with their schools.

See below for a gallery of some photographs from the event: