AS time marches on, wars of the distant past can become forgotten in our nation’s collective memory, and that is why Remembrance Sunday remains so important: to make sure today’s generation understand the huge sacrifices made by their forebears.

Understandably, it is the most recent wars that we focus on when paying our respects, and for that reason it is the Second World War and the recent conflicts in the Middle East in which British soldiers died that are at the forefront.

As a society, we have to make sure the First World War does not slip from the list of conflicts that we remember, now that the 2018 centenary has been and gone.

The Crimean and Napoleonic wars have both been ‘forgotten’, despite a total of almost 200,000 British troops dying, in the sense that we do not pay our respects as a nation at a special service.

Although there are no veterans of the Great War still living to remind us of the sacrifice of their generation, we must not forget them.

That means ensuring that the First World War remains on the syllabus at our schools and that we continue to pay tribute as a nation every year come Remembrance Day.