At 11am yesterday Glasgow simply stopped.

For two minutes the large crowd that had gathered in George Square in the city bowed its head and remembered in silence; remembered friends and family members and comrades, some recently lost, some long gone. Remembrance Sunday is always a day for ghosts, perhaps yesterday more than most.

A century on from the beginning of the Great War - the "war to end all wars"that resulted in 147,609 Scots, one-fifth of Britain's casualties, dying in the service of king and country -politicians, servicemen past and present, army cadets, scouts, girl guides and civilians young and old gathered together all around the country to mark their passing. Theirs and those who have fought and died for their country in every conflict since.

It marked a sombre and dignified end to a week in which the Royal British Legion was criticised for accepting sponsorship from Lockheed, the world's largest defence contractor.

Yesterday, however, was not a day for politics, even if politicians were out in force to pay their respects. Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, outgoing Labour leader Johann Lamont and Baron Wallace of Tankerness all stepped forward to lay wreaths in George Square, while in Edinburgh, First Minister Alex Salmond and Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael were in attendance.

But in the capital it was 10-year-old Meghan Mathews who caught the eye. She laid a wreath for those children whose lives were lost or changed forever by conflict. Meghan's father Sergeant Jonathan Mathews, a trainer to the Afghan army attached to The Highlanders, 4th battalion, was killed in Afghanistan by a sniper in 2008, one of 453 British soldiers who died between 2001 and 2014.

"It's important for Meghan to be able to remember," her mother Shona, 46, from Edinburgh, said afterwards. "My husband always led from the front and was first to go in. He volunteered to go to Afghanistan. Nothing will take away the loss. Meghan will grow up without her father.

"Every Remembrance Sunday, no matter where I am, I cry for him. Laying the wreath is a great honour for Meghan and I am so very proud of her."

Not all memories are quite so fresh, but that did not mean they were anything less painful. In Glasgow former servicemen listened to the sonorous, elegiac notes of Elgar's Nimrod and recalled the men they had once fought alongside."You remember the ones that you knew that died," said 75-year-old Waring McMillan, a former Royal Marine from Kilmarnock who saw service in Malaya. "My grandfathers fought in the First World War and luckily both came back. But you don't think of those ones. You think more of the guys you knew who were killed."

Snowy-haired veterans were out in force in George Square, men like 79-year-old Michael Kinrade, dapper in his army blazer, medals proudly displayed on his chest, small moustache smartly clipped.

Mr Kinrade served in the Royal Signals for 22 years between 1954 and 1976 and had come to pay his respects to those who had made the ultimate sacrifice. But, he added, it was not only his generation who were here. He was pleased to see that younger men and women were doing so too.

"It's getting better," he said. "There's more support than there used to be. I think it could be due to Afghanistan and the public becoming aware of what the armed forces do for them."

Inevitably, though, the two world wars were in many people's minds yesterday. In Edinburgh representatives of the German military, led by commanding officer Ivo Schneider, took part in the ceremony for the first time since 1921.

"This is the first time a foreign navy has taken part," said Kevin Gray, chief executive officer of Legion Scotland, "and it's incredibly fitting and positive that we can come together to pay tribute to all those affected by war."

Back in Glasgow, wreaths having been laid, soldiers from the Royal Highland Fusiliers, the 2nd battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and the Lowland Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland marched off to applause from the assembled crowd. Hanging back, a woman stood with her father's medals pinned to her chest. Her father, she said, had been at Dunkirk, had fought in Abyssinia, been captured by Italian forces in North Africa and later had been marched from near Rome to Austria, where he was imprisoned in Stalag 18A. Her Irish grandfather also saw service at Mons and Gallipoli in the First World War. She was here, she said, to remember them both in silence. For a few moments yesterday a city stood with her.