Of the 65 million men who participated in the First World War, by 11 November 1918 over half had been killed, wounded or captured.

‘You thought of all the people you had known who were killed...they came home in your imagination.  But the Armistice brought the realisation to you that they weren't coming back, that it was the end. It was not such a time for rejoicing as it might have been.’
Ruby Ord, IWM Sound Archive

For the families of those who would never come home, for the men and women who had witnessed the horrors of conflict, and for those who would suffer for the rest of their lives, the war would never really be over.

The dead were buried and their graves cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  Those whose bodies could not be found or identified were commemorated on monuments to the missing.  Towns and villages across the globe built memorials.  Parts of the scarred landscape were preserved.  Museums were established to record the story of the fighting.  And on each anniversary of the guns falling silent, Remembrance Day, the sacrifices of countless men and women are still acknowledged with two minutes silence.

In November 2008, 26 young people from across the UK travelled to France and Belgium on an all expenses paid trip to discover some of the amazing stories of the men and women who experienced the First World War on the Western Front.  The competition winners visited historic sites, museums, cemeteries and memorials and took part in events to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Armistice.

Read about our Away To Remember students and their experiences as they travelled from across the UK to the battlefields of the First World War for a trip of a lifetime, 7-12 November. Leave comments and messages of remembrance, ask questions, watch videos and read their blogs about what they got up to in France and Belgium. To hear what they have done so far please click here

To see what has happened on previous trips click here