Editing Battle of the Somme (section)

== Commemoration ==
{{see also|Thiepval Memorial}}
In the United Kingdom and Newfoundland, the Battle of the Somme became the central memory of World War I.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36372478 |title=Verdun: France's sacred symbol of healing |date=2016-05-28 |access-date=2019-09-21 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/inside-first-world-war/part-eleven/10928684/was-battle-somme-success.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140828112857/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/inside-first-world-war/part-eleven/10928684/was-battle-somme-success.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-08-28 |title=Was bloody Somme a success for the British? |date=2014-07-02 |access-date=2019-09-21 |publisher=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zoktc9xBDvwC&q=.%20History%20of%20Newfoundland%20and%20Labrador%E2%80%8E&pg=PP1 |title=Newfoundland and Labrador: a history |last=Cadigan |first=Sean Thomas |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8020-4465-5}}</ref> [[The Royal British Legion]] with the British Embassy in Paris and the [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]] commemorate the battle on 1 July each year, at the [[Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme]]. For their efforts on the first day of the battle, the 1st Newfoundland Regiment was given the name "The Royal Newfoundland Regiment" by [[George V]] on 28 November 1917.{{sfn|Steele|2003|p = 10}} The first day of the Battle of the Somme is commemorated in Newfoundland, remembering the "Best of the Best" at 11{{nbsp}}am on the Sunday nearest to 1 July.{{sfn|Steele|2003|p=192}} The Somme is remembered in [[Northern Ireland]] due to the participation of the [[36th (Ulster) Division]] and commemorated by veterans' groups and by [[Ulster unionism|unionist]]/Protestant groups such as the [[Orange Order]]. The [[British Legion]] and others commemorate the battle on 1 July.{{sfn|Robinson|2010|pp=86–87}}

[[File:Thiepval cimetière derrière mémorial 1.jpg|thumb|{{centre|Thiepval Memorial to the British Missing of the Somme}}]]
On 1 July 2016, at 7:28&nbsp;a.m. [[British Summer Time]], the [[UK]] observed a [[moment of silence|two minute silence]] to mark the start of the battle which began 100 years earlier. A special ceremony was broadcast on [[BBC1]] and all BBC radio stations participated in the silence. At the start of the silence, the [[King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery]] fired a gun every four seconds for one hundred seconds and a whistle was blown to end it. Just like a [[Remembrance Sunday]] silence, a bugler played [[The Last Post]] after the silence. The silence was announced during a speech by the [[prime minister]] [[David Cameron]] who said, "There will be a national two-minute silence on Friday morning. I will be attending a service at the Thiepval Memorial near the battlefield and it's right that the whole country pauses to remember the sacrifices of all those who fought and lost their lives in that conflict."<ref name="sommecentury">{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/battle-of-the-somme-to-be-commemorated-with-two-minute-silence-a7110501.html |title=Battle of the Somme to be commemorated with two-minute silence |last=Wilcock |first=David |work=The Independent |access-date=1 July 2016}}</ref> On 1 July 2016, a ceremony was held in [[Heaton Park]] in north Manchester in England, which was the site of a large army training camp during the war.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Slater |first1=Chris |last2=Britton |first2=Paul |last3=Coyle |first3=Simon |date=2016-07-01 |title=Thousands gather in Manchester to mark Battle of the Somme centenary – recap |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/somme-centenary-remembrance-manchester-parade-11552350 |access-date=2022-05-22 |website=Manchester Evening News |language=en}}</ref>

In Britain on 1 July 2016, 1,400 actors dressed in replica Great War British Army uniforms, walked about in streets and public open areas, from 7:00{{nbsp}}a.m. to 7:00{{nbsp}}p.m. Each took on temporarily the identity of a British soldier who died on the first day of the Somme and handed out information cards about that soldier. They did not talk, except for occasionally singing "''We're here because we're here''" to the tune of ''[[Auld Lang Syne]]''.<ref>''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' Saturday 2 July 2016, bottom of page 1, with photograph.</ref> This event was called "Ghost Soldiers".<ref>{{Cite web |title='we're here because we're here' |url=https://becausewearehere.co.uk/ |access-date=2022-05-22 |website=we're here because we're here}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reeves |first=Nicholas |date=March 1997 |title=Cinema, spectatorship and propaganda: 'Battle of the Somme' (1916) and its contemporary audience |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01439689700260601 |journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=5–28 |doi=10.1080/01439689700260601 |issn=0143-9685}}</ref>