Braving chilly autumn winds, ex-service personnel, their families and well-wishers recognised sacrifices made during two world wars and more recent conflicts yesterday.

From Bradford to Skipton, and Shipley to Clayton, there was remembrance too of the district's servicemen who have been killed in the Iraq conflict.

They include Sgt Steven Roberts, 33, of Shipley, Flight Lieutenant David Stead, of Burley-in-Wharfedale, Royal Marine Captain Philip Guy, 29, of Bishopdale, North Yorkshire and Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley, 28, of Batley.

The communities of Birkenshaw, East Bierley, Hunsworth and Drub were also remembering a recently lost son.

Sgt Christian Hickey's name has joined those of 87 local soldiers who died in the First World War and 40 who died in the Second World War on the village war memorial. It was a poignant reminder that British soldiers were still losing their lives on foreign fields.

Sgt Hickey was killed leading a foot patrol in a high-risk area of Basra while serving with the 1st Battalion the Coldstream Guards in October 2005.

He was killed by a heat-activated bomb designed to take out the Army vehicle his patrol was using.

His mother Pauline, of East Bierley, has become a vociferous campaigner against the occupation of Iraq.

She said the service, also attended by her son's widow, Gemma, had been a testing experience.

"I was experiencing a mixture of emotions. Obviously I'm very proud of him, but politically, I don't think he should have been in Iraq.

In Bradford the city's Lord Mayor Councillor Choudhary Rangzeb attended a service at the Cenotaph followed by a parade.

Following the service, the Vice Lord-Lieutenant for West Yorkshire accompanied by Coun Rangzeb took the salute at the march past in Centenary Square.

Councillor Rangzeb said he was pleased to see a higher than usual attendance from onlookers.

"Of course, it is vital that we continue to mark this occasion," he said.

"I was particularly pleased to see a large multicultural element with people from many different faiths. I think this may well be a reflection of what is happening at the moment in different parts of the world."

Meanwhile, the Queen led the nation in two minute's silence in honour of Britain's war dead.

Thousands of elderly veterans gathered at the Cenotaph in central London to pay tribute to their fallen comrades on Remembrance Sunday.

As Big Ben chimed 11, they fell quiet in memory of those that paid the ultimate sacrifice fighting for their country.

The sounding of the Last Post by 10 buglers from the Royal Marines then followed, echoing around Whitehall.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Prime Ministers Baroness Thatcher and Sir John Major joined in the solemn annual act of remembrance in the bright autumn sunshine.

More than 8,000 ex-servicemen and women - some in wheelchairs - took part in the traditional parade past the Cenotaph.

The Queen, who has been suffering from a bad back recently, placed a wreath of blood-red poppies at the base of the Cenotaph.

Britain and the Commonwealth lost more than one million men and women in World War I between 1914 and 1918. Almost half-a-million died in World War II from 1939 to 1945.

Since the start of hostilities in Iraq in 2003 the number of British service personnel to have died stands at 121.

Since 2001, 41 British Forces personnel have died while serving in Afghanistan.

e-mail: jonathan.walton@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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