Thank you to Laurie Burrell for sharing his experi-ence on November 14th when he had the opportunity to attend the Royal British Legion Cenotaph Parade as a representative of the Soldiers Sailors Airman Family Association (SSAFA) of which he is a Surrey Branch member for Spelthorne and Runnymede.
Our instructions for the day from SSAFA requested that we meet at Horse guard’s Parade Ground at 0915 so I left home in Shepperton at 0745 to allow plenty of time to drive up to London by car rather that take the train from Shepperton. Having parked in Victoria out of the congestion zone I walked to Horseguards where I join the throng of attendees queuing to pass through security control, there must have been over 1000 people gathered in this area. One of whom was a SSAFA member with a wheel chair who was strug-gling to get into the Security line, I offered to push him through security and as we set off a path way opened up to let us go straight through to the wheel chair access security barrier, and on our arrival at the SSAFA contingent in the parade line up we had to stand around wait for over an hour before moving through Horseguards Arch into Whitehall.
The SSAFA contingent formed up in one of the designated columns of attendees prior to the Service of Remembrance commencing at the Cenotaph, the total area of the columns fills Whitehall from the Cenotaph up to the Whitehall Theatre. The comradeship and good humour amongst the attendees is overwhelming and everyone is there to honour friends and relatives who have fallen or served in the military since 1914 to recent times. After the minutes silence at 11 am and Service of Remembrance and wreath laying by the Royal family and dignitaries is completed and they have left the Cenotaph the massed bands start to play a selection of music to march to.
This is when the columns of service men and organisation connected to the Military start to march passed the Cenotaph to pay their respects to their fallen colleagues and relatives and hand each contingents wreath to the wreath layers. As you move forward from your allocated positions the crowds gathered along the procession route start to clap continuously until all the members assembled have left Whitehall. This is one of the most moving part of the day and the respect shown to all those taking part in the parade is unbelievable to witness as a member of the those taking part on the parade. As those taking part in the march past arrive at Horseguards the Duke of Cambridge, the President of the Royal British Legion and the Minister for the De-fence are stand on a dais to salute each contingent of attendees as they march past to enter the parade ground.
As far as I am aware this was the first year that non-military personnel who support military charities were allowed to take part in the Remembrance Day service parade, and it was a great honour to be treated with the same respect as those who serve or have served in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces.
After standing and waiting to in the Parade for over three hours I have to admit that it is very strenuous when you are in your latter years, but certainly worthwhile to be part of such a dedi-cated event.