Remembrance Day offers a time to reflect on the hundreds of thousands of British servicemen and women who have died defending their country.

Numbers alone are often just meaningless statistics, but when they are put into the context of war or conflict, they conjure up feelings of remorse and sadness.

More than 880,000 British casualties were recorded in the First World War, with about 350,000 thought to have lost their lives fighting in the Second World War.

Since the end of the Second World War in 1945, more than 15,000 military personnel have died in action around the world.

And to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War in 1918, the Royal Air Force Museum, in Grahame Park Way, Colindale, is hosting an exhibition that focuses on the need to remember.

A spokesman for the museum said: “‘Lest We Forget’ is a poignant and unflinching exhibition highlighting the sacrifices made during human conflict.

“It invites us to reflect on the loss of the individual and the impact their departure has on their families and loved ones.

“Synonymous with both world wars, the act of remembrance is as relevant for families who have lost loved ones, whether civilians or service personnel in recent and current conflicts, as it was for our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.”

Serving members of the forces and dignitaries joined veterans, including 112-year-old Henry Allingham, who is the last surviving founding member of the RAF, at the opening of the exhibition last Thursday.

Doug Radcliffe, 85, flew with Bomber Command between 1942 and 1945 and says the reality of losing comrades remains prominent in his thoughts.

“I remember every day,” he declared. “My pilot and my rear gunner who I flew with, are buried in Germany and I remember them every day.

“Many of my comrades, don’t need a specific date to remember them. We’re very glad it’s remembered in this way, but the fact is that we all lost somebody, and it’s important that generations realise we live with it.

“You don’t wait to remember on November 11. You remember every day of your life — when the bus doesn’t come you remember, or when you get a parking ticket — it doesn’t matter.”

Wing Commander Andy Green, a former RAF pilot recalled when based in Kandahar last year, how every single member of his detachment attended a remembrance service, to demonstrate the level of pride associated with the event.

“It means a lot to the forces and the RAF that we do have mass of remembrance,” he explained.

“We also need to remember not just the fallen, but the living as well — those left behind, making sure we are doing everything we can for them.

“If we fail to remember those who fought to maintain our freedom and stood for what we believe, then we become at risk of not valuing that freedom or not maintaining that freedom.

“If we forget the sacrifices made, we are not valuing the work they have done and the work of those still losing their lives every day in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

As an act of remembrance, visitors to the museum will have the opportunity to record their thoughts and feelings on paper “bricks” which will be used to produce a Wall of Remembrance in one of the galleries.

Barnet mayor Councillor John Marshall praised the museum for its exhibitions on the impacts of war.

He said: “I remember going round the Holocaust Memorial Centre with John Major, who said “If we fail to remember then we are condemned to repeat, and if we forget the sacrifices of the past, and why we fought the wars, then we are likely to do it again.

“It is important young people recognise we are not just here through chance — but because people were willing to make an ultimate sacrifice at times when the future of this country was remarkably uncertain.”