Young and old fall silent in honour of fallen heroes
The sacrifices given by the war heroes who served in the First World War have been marked with poignancy at Newport, Isle of Wight.
At 5am on November 11, 1918 the Armistice was signed ending the war between Germany and the Allies. The Armistice came into force at 11 am.
As the clock struck the awaited hour, as many as 1,000 people gathered in the square around the cenotaph and held a two-minute silence to remember those fallen heroes.
Simon Tutton, a parade marshall, said: ‘There were 250 scouts, brownies and cubs attending the service.’
The silence was broken by the bugler playing the ‘Last Post’ and a member of the clergy asked the crowd to join in the Lord’s Prayer. The wreaths were carefully laid and the flags were raised in unison.
Steve King, a town crier for Ryde and Southampton, said he had attended the service in memory of the fallen bell ringers of WWI.
Mr King said he lost three great uncles from 1915–1917. Steve was wearing his general service cross which he received for his eight-year service in catering and a medal for his involvement in the Queen’s regiment during her Silver Jubilee.
Nick Cherryman, a fireman for 26 years, also received a medal for the Queen’s service and said he was representing his father who was a Royal Pioneer Corps. They were responsible for jobs under the royal engineer’s supervision which included the PLUTO operation -the famous pipeline under the ocean which was used to pump fuel to our Allies.
