Conflicts past and present - along with the sense of a new start in this country - were at the fore as thousands came to Christchurch Park to mark Remembrance Day in Ipswich.
While there remained much emphasis on past conflicts, there was also a powerful address from an Ipswich-base Ukrainian who has been helping refugees to settle in this country.
Officials estimated that about 6,000 people came to the park to take part in the annual Remembrance service and to meet old friends and comrades.
Service personnel from Wattisham Airbase marched through the town centre to Christchurch Park.
This year's service was the first of the new reign of Charles III and there was a feeling of a start of a new era.
But the most moving part of the ceremony came in an address from Natalie Lawrence, who was born in Ukraine but has lived in Ipswich for 20 years and has been working to support refugees from her homeland who have moved to Suffolk.
She spoke movingly of the impact of war on her homeland.
Natalie is originally from the city of Ternopil in western Ukraine - where her parents and sister still live.
After the ceremony, she said: "I asked my family to come and stay with us when this all broke out but they are determined to stay in their homes.
"They haven't been directly involved in the fighting, but there have been drones going over and there are power cuts.
"I speak to them every night and it is terrible what is happening. I am so blessed to be here with my family and children and with all the support we have here."
Her sister is a teacher at the local university and was determined to stay on to help her students.
Natalie said: "She has carried on. Sometimes she has to give lessons in underground bunkers but Ukraine is determined to carry on and get over this."
During the ceremony wreaths were placed by civic leaders, politicians, members of the armed forces, veterans' organisations and a representative of the Belgian Navy which has a patrol ship visiting the Port of Ipswich at present.
The service was concluded with a prayer from the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Rt Rev Martin Seeley who released a Remembrance Day message.
He said: “Once again we gather to remember the fallen from the Great War and the Second World War.
“But even as our direct contact with these wars through family and friends decreases, the reasons for remembering seem to increase in our deeply troubled world.
“This year our remembrance and gratitude for the sacrifice of those who lost their lives in the two World Wars will take place while a devastating war is being fought on European soil, in Ukraine.
“We are witnessing close at hand the horror and futility of war, and we are all acutely aware of the danger and human cost as we reach out to those who are suffering.
“As I share in the Remembrance Service at the war memorial in Christchurch Park in Ipswich, and we recall all those who lost their lives and those who suffered terrible injury in war, I will be praying even more fervently for peace in our world.”
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