Photo Report: 2010 Remembrance Day Parade

Only a handful of Bermuda’s veterans of World War Two (1939-1945) remain, and there are no Bermudian veterans of the First World War (1914-1918) still alive.

However the large crowds who lined Front Street this morning (Nov 11) for the Remembrance Day parade to the Cenotaph underscored the fact locals have not forgotten those Bermudians who made the ultimate sacrifice during the two global conflicts.

The crowds on Front Street ran deep in places as those on parade, which started under a light rain, marched to the Cenotaph.

Immediately prior to the two minutes’ silence which marks the official beginning of the Remembrance Day ceremony, a lone Bermuda Regiment bugler sounded “The Last Post,” and the silence was marked with a cannon shot at start and finish

The silence was first observed at 11 am, the time the Armistice ending hostilities in World War One was signed on November 11, 1918. On the first anniversary of the Armistice, 11 November 1919, the two minutes’ silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony at the new Cenotaph in London. The silence was popularly adopted and it became a central feature of commemorations on Armistice Day around the world, including Bermuda.

The spectators continued to stand in relative silence — broken by the clatter of camera shutters and the flutter of flags flying from the Cenotaph — for wreaths laid by Governor Sir Richard Gozney, Premier Paula Cox, Opposition Leader Kim.Swan, Mayor Charles Gosling, and other dignitaries.

Those taking part in the march included War Veterans, the Bermuda Regiment, the Bermuda Police, the North Village Band & Somerset Brigade Band, the St. John Ambulance Brigade, the Bermuda Regiment Band & Corps of Drums; the Bermuda Regiment Gun Troop; the Bermuda Cadet Corps; the Bermuda Sea Cadets; and the Salvation Army Band.

There were dozens of veterans, or family members representing them, on parade [video] – including veterans of World War II and the Vietnam War. 85-year-old Jack Lightbourn (WWII vet), who we recently interviewed, was the Parade Commander.

A Bermudian officer serving on the front lines in France, Allan Livingstone Cooper, recorded the reaction of troops on the Western Front when the Armistice between the Allies and Germany was signed and the guns fell silent after more than four years of continuous warfare.

“There was a sort of tension in all ranks as rumours of an early peace were in the air: Bermuda didn’t feel too far away at this point,” he wrote in his journal. “Finally the rumours were a concrete fact — an Armistice was to be signed at 11 am. The tension was eased and we paraded as usual as if nothing had happened. Whereas the world was celebrating the joyous event, we were taking it in our stride. Inwardly we felt a great calm that the bloody thing was over.”

It is believed that more Bermudians per capita than any other country in the world volunteered to serve in the First Word War. They, along with all our veterans of all armed conflicts, were honoured today.

You can view videos here, the same photos in slideshow format here. For previous photo galleries of military parades click here, and for additional coverage of Remembrance Day and Bermuda’s war vets click here.

Photos by Only the Best, click to enlarge:

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Category: All, News, News, Parades, Photos