Thousands of people across the country observed a moment of silence Sunday morning in remembrance of Canadian soldiers who have fought and died in armed conflicts.

At 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month in Toronto, Ottawa and other cities across the province, the morning was marked by a number of ceremonies, speeches and somber memories to remember the more than 115,000 Canadians who have given their lives fighting for freedom and peace.

The first Remembrance Day ceremony was a sunrise service which took place at the veterans' section inside Prospect Cemetery on St. Claire Avenue West. Men and women in uniform paid tribute to fallen soldiers by placing wreaths on the memorial site and singing hymns before observing two minutes of silence.

However, the largest Remembrance Day ceremony in Canada took place in Ottawa where an estimated crowd of 30,000 began gathering at the National War Memorial early Sunday morning.

The Governor-General laid the first wreath at the foot of the memorial. A stream of others followed, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Rick Hillier, who stopped to salute as his wreath lay at the memorial's base.

This year's National Silver Cross Mother, Wilhelmina Beerenfenger-Koehler, from Embrun, Ont., represented the all the mothers who have lost children, at the Ottawa ceremony.

Her son, Cpl. Robbie Christopher Beerenfenger, was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Oct. 3, 2003.

"I'm very proud. I knew it was going to be a hard time - a lot of sadness - but I'm proud to be doing it," she told CTV's Question Period on representing the mothers.

Shortly after, attending veterans marched past the memorial saluting the governor-general and prime minister.

Sea of faces at Old City Hall

Toronto was a similar scene of a sea of faces, among them decorated veterans, assembled to pay tribute to fallen comrades, lost heroes and today's generation of troops.

Notes from "The Last Post" were played at ceremonies at Old City Hall, Queen's Park and smaller local gatherings across the city.

John McGeer comes to the cenotaph at Old City Hall each year to pay tribute to his fellow soldiers who did not make it back home with him. He was 17 when he went to Korea.

"God has let me come down here and I appreciate that. He brought me back from Korea...my two buddies never made it," he told CTV News.

"I had two buddies die right beside me in a bomb and I was outside the bunker ... That's what I think about."

The day touched many people who although were not personally affected by the war, have a great respect for the people who fought in them.

Missing man maneuver over Sunnybrook

About 500 former soldiers who live at Warrior's Hall, a seniors' residence for veterans at Sunnybrook hospital, celebrated with a special commemoration.

Veterans gathered with their family and friends outside the cenotaph at Sunnybrook and watched as four Harvard aircraft from the Second World War flew over the hospital. On the fourth pass, they staged the missing man maneuver where one plane disappears.

"That man pulls up out of the formation and heads west going home and that's in honour of all those who didn't come home from all the wars," Charlie Rose, a veteran from the second world war, told CTV News.

But it wasn't only the older soldiers that took time to remember the friends they've lost. A new generation of troops fighting in Afghanistan had their own stories of sorrow to share.

"It's very precious to me. I did lose some friends over there so I take this day with great pride and a lot of memories," said Cpl. Al Billings, who served in Afghanistan from August, 2006 until February, 2007.

Billings said he prays for the five friends he lost in the war.

"I just think about them, I pray (for) them, and I pray for their families and make sure they're okay, and doing well," he told CTV News. "You know, I know they did it for the right cause and they wanted to be there."

Today's young soldiers are also on the minds of the older ones, said war veteran Duncan Graham.

"My thoughts today are with the boys in Afghanistan," he said. "I hope we see an end to it in a couple of years and that our boys will be coming home."

Many children attended Remembrance Day ceremonies, an encouraging sign after a recent study revealed the majority of young students don't know a lot of Canadian history. However, the study also showed students knew more about Canada's military history than they did ten years ago.

"People fought for us in the war so we could be free," said one boy attending the ceremony at Old City Hall.

"Soldiers died because the other soldiers were fighting them. I feel sad about that," said a young girl with a shrug of her shoulders.

A tribute to Canada

On Saturday, a tribute to mark Canada's role in one of the First World War's bloodiest battles was held outside the Belgian village of Passchendaele.

The Battle of Passchendaele, which ended 90 years ago this weekend with the capture of a small village church, left 500,000 soldiers from Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand dead, wounded or missing.

Industry Minister Jim Prentice and his wife, Karen, attended the memorial in remembrance of his great-uncle Pte. Roy Urquhart, who fought and died in the Canadian offensive.

"It's our one big day of Remembrance, but as they often say, every day is Remembrance Day for those that have lost a loved one," Greg Thompson, Canada's veteran's affairs minister, told CTV.