An impromptu monument is gathering plenty of local support
This Remembrance Sunday, official ceremonies will be held at monuments across the south.
Often dating back to the First World War, our cenotaphs and war memorials are imposing testaments to our wish to commemorate and honour the fallen.
But perhaps their very formality makes them a little impersonal for some.
Visit Langstone Harbour in Hampshire and you will find a rather different kind of memorial.
Stones for support
Wilfred Cummings is a children's writer who lives in Portsmouth, and regularly uses a footpath that runs round the edge of Langstone Harbour.
He started building an impromptu monument to British soldiers killed overseas.
Remembering the fallen soldiers - stone by stone
Just a few stones at first, topped with a flag, and with a sign inviting others to add a stone or two in support of our troops.
Four days later it was 15 feet high and Wilfred had to dismantle it, afraid that it would topple over, and start again with a bigger base.
It continues to grow, with hundreds of stones - some large, many small - being added every day.
One man even came down from Liverpool with a stone with his son's name carved in it, who is serving in Iraq, which he added to the cairn.
Simple beginnings
For Wilfred it all began quite simply:
"One morning I was jogging and I heard the news of another couple of soldiers being slaughtered in Afghanistan. I heard it right at this spot and I stopped. I put a few stones, a couple of circles of stones, down and it started that way."
And he is very clear about what his impromptu monument means.
"It makes me feel a sense of pride, and sends a message to the guys in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's saying, Hey listen the ordinary people support you. We love you, we are very proud of you."
Planning questions
Wilfred's memorial has not met with universal praise, though.
A complaint to the local council has led to questions about planning permission, and whether the monument should be allowed to stay.
But Wilfred is determined to keep it.
"I want this to be here every day, every time someone passes by I want them to stop and think of a hurting family, of a fallen soldier, or a wounded soldier, not once a year but every single day until the last soldier comes home."
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