November 11, 1920: The Cenotaph Is Unveiled at Whitehall

November 11, 1920: The Cenotaph is unveiled on Whitehall, in London, between Downing Street, residence of the Prime Minister of Great Britain, to the north; and the Westminster Bridge, with the Palace of Westminster, the national capital building, to the south. It is Britain's memorial to its military personnel who died in the Great War, the World War, what will later be known as World War I.

"Cenotaph" is a Greek word meaning "empty tomb." There are cenotaphs serving as war memorials elsewhere in Britain, in Southampton, Manchester and Belfast. They serve as memorials elsewhere in the British Commonwealth: In Canada, in Montreal, Ottawa, Regina and Vancouver; in Australia, in Sydney and Hobart; in New Zealand, in Auckland, Dunedin and Wellington; in Hong Kong; and in South Africa, in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. In Southeast Asia, Singapore has one in its namesake capital city; and Malaysia has them in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. And in the United States, there is a cenotaph at the Alamo in San Antonio.

Edwin Luytens, who designed India's new capital of New Dehli, designed first a temporary cenotaph for Whitehall, made of wood and plaster, and erected as part of the Peace Day events of July 19, 1919, at the request of Prime Minister David Lloyd George. At its unveiling, it immediately won the hearts of the public. People spontaneously covered the memorial in wreaths to the dead and the missing from The Great War, and within a week close to a million people made the pilgrimage to pay their respects.

This enthusiasm led to the Cenotaph becoming a permanent and lasting memorial in Portland stone, unveiled on the 2nd Anniversary of the Armistice. It became a central point for all those whose family and friends had died during the war, since so many of their honored dead were buried on the Continent, at the battlefields, and others were still listed as missing, with no known grave.

The structure rises to a height of just over 35 feet, and is about 15 by 9 feet at the base. On its north and south faces, instead of names, the words "THE GLORIOUS DEAD" are inscribed. Above them are the Roman numerals MCMXIX (1919, for the dedication for World War I) and MCMXXXIX (1939, for the start of World War II). Between them are stone wreaths.

The Cenotaph serves as a memorial for all British war dead, including those who have followed in the Korean War, the Falkland Islands War, the Persian Gulf War, and the War On Terror.

Every year, all over the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth. at the moment of the ending of World War I, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 11:00 AM on November 11 -- known as Remembrance Day there, and Veterans Day here -- "The Last Post" (America's answer is "Taps") is played. Then, two minutes' silence are held, followed by the playing of "The Rouse" (America's answer is "Reveille").

Then, the monarch, or someone appointed to fill in for the monarch such as the heir to the throne, lays a wreath on the Cenotaph.

Queen Elizabeth II, November 11, 2012

And the British take this far more seriously than America does. When a team in England's Premier League plays at home on November 11, or before its last home game before that date, the players gather around the center circle, and they observe the two minutes' silence. They also wear a jersey patch simulating a poppy, a symbol of World War I, unless objecting to it, as some Republic of Ireland players sometimes do. (The Irish War of Independence began in 1916, during that war.) This always turns out to be a nasty controversy.

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November 11, 1920 was a Thursday. Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL season was over a month away. So there were no scores on this historic day.