This is a simple stone obelisk in the centre of Whitehall near Parliament Square which commemorates the members of the British armed forces who fell in the two World Wars. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and first erected in plaster in 1919 as a saluting point for the Allied ‘victory march’. The stone monument was unveiled on 11 November 1920, and the inscription referring to World War II unveiled in 1946. Here on ‘Remembrance Sunday’ (nearest Sunday to Armistice Day) an outdoor service is held, attended by the sovereign, the prime minister and other dignitaries, who lay wreaths of red poppies at its base. The Lord’s Prayer is recited, prayers offered and hymns sung, participated in by huge throngs. The service is followed by a ‘march-past’ of war veterans, some among them in wheelchairs or otherwise bearing marks of wounds sustained in the war.