Photo & Video Set #2: Remembrance Day Parade

November 11, 2015

[Updated with video] Hamilton came to a standstill as the annual Remembrance Day parade marked two minutes’ silence to honour the fallen.

Veterans joined serving Royal Bermuda Regiment [RBR] soldiers and police on parade at the Cenotaph on Front Street today [Nov 11], while hundreds looked on.

Allan Kuhn, 94, who served in World War II with the Canadian Army’s Grenadier Guards, paraded with other former soldiers as dignitaries, led by Governor George Fergusson, laid wreaths at the memorial.

Mr Kuhn said: “It’s very important to be here. It’s very emotional. You get a lot of young people too and that’s important.”

Anglican Canon Thomas Nisbett, 90, who served in the Bermuda Militia Infantry guarding military installations on the Island in World War II, added: “I never miss it.

“I really look forward to it, especially in remembrance of those I knew in these days who are not with us any more. I feel proud of the fact I can march in their honour.”

Vernon Clarke, a former regular soldier in the British Army’s Royal Engineers, who served in Europe at the height of the Cold War and did two tours of troubled Northern Ireland, said: “It’s vital to remember.

“When I was serving in Germany we went to some of the battlefields and I saw the graves. As far as the eye can see it was just graves.

“It’s one thing hearing a number on some TV programme – but to see crosses covering an entire hillside for miles is something else.”

Chip Waters, a former Colonel in the US Army Rangers and a paratrooper, added: “I come every year.

Col. Waters, 65, from Southampton, who served in the then-Bermuda Cadet Corps as a schoolboy in the 1960s, added: “Bermudians have made a difference in the world and it’s important to recognise that fact, whether it’s now or in the past.

“Bermudians have fought in all the world wars and every war that’s been since and a lot have been on peace-keeping operations in various places.”

Col. Waters said: “The Regiment has a proud history – the Bermuda Rifles and the Bermuda Militia Artillery had battle honours from both world wars and the Regiment is important to Bermuda.

“Help is a long way away, so our help is from our own. That’s particularly important during things like hurricanes.”

Update: 30 minute video of the Parade

Governor George Fergusson, who led the wreath-laying ceremony, said: “It was an impressive turnout and very good as always to see the veterans. Sadly, one or two I got to know are not here from previous years.

“It was an excellent ceremony and respectfully and movingly carried out.”

Premier Michael Dunkley added: “You can never forget the service and the sacrifice of those who came before us. Pretty much the whole Cabinet was out and the streets were full, even with the bad weather. That to me sends a message that people will never forget.”

Regiment Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Michael Foster-Brown said: “It’s always a special and moving event in the calendar. It’s a chance to honour the service of those who gave so much.

“It’s especially good as it’s the Regiment’s 50th anniversary and also the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I having been so recent. It was extra special.”

Click to enlarge photos: