In Pictures: Armistice Day 2008

Three faces stood out among the millions marking Armistice Day this year. Henry Allingham, Harry Patch and Bill Stone are among the four surviving British veterans of World War I.

They and thousands of others gathered on Whitehall in central London for the annual memorial service. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War.

Mr Patch, now 110 years old, was helped to lay his wreath at the foot of the Cenotaph. He fought in the battle of Passchendaele in which more than 70,000 British troops died.

Mr Allingham is the oldest surviving veteran at 112. The former RNAS and RAF veteran said: "I'm glad to be here. It means a lot to me. I hope people realise what my pals sacrificed on their behalf."

Hundreds of military personnel bowed their heads for the silence. It marks the moment when the First World War ended 90 years ago.

After the silence, Prime Minister Gordon Brown held a reception for veterans young and old at 10 Downing Street. Mr Allingham, Mr Patch and Mr Stone were guests of honour.

At the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent led the tributes.

There the band of HM Royal Marines, Plymouth played alongside the Armed Forces Memorial. It bears the names of 16,000 servicemen and women killed since the end of World War II.

A service was also held in Edinburgh's Garden of Remembrance. There too, those who have died in more recent conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan were remembered.

Railway staff paid their respects at York Station. In total, some five million men and women served in the British armed forces during World War I.

In Southampton, onlookers including the Duke of Edinburgh watched as planes dropped a million poppies over the QE2 ahead of its final voyage. It is leaving for Dubai where it will become a floating hotel.

Close to the battlefields themselves, poignant services were held. In France, the Prince of Wales laid a wreath at the Military Cemetery in Verdun.

Prince Charles was joined by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife. More than 300,000 men died during the 1916 Battle of Verdun.