In memory of Dad – Cenotaph 2022
Unfortunately, we lost Dad in 2018 and, as he wouldn’t be able to attend the 40th anniversary commemorations, it occurred to me that I could honour his contribution by marching his medals past the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. I had no idea how to go about achieving this goal, so I was delighted when the South Atlantic Medal Association agreed that it was possible.
Having filled in the necessary forms and waited to find out if I had been selected, I finally heard that I would indeed, be able to march Dad’s medals past the country’s iconic symbol of Remembrance.
As the day of the event approached, I found myself becoming increasingly nervous; did I really belong in the parade with those who had actually been there and experienced the war first hand? Would I be able to get to the right place at the right time, so I wouldn’t miss the event? Would I remember my drill from my days in the WRNR?
When the day finally dawned, it was an early start for Tommy (my partner) and me. The nervousness was not helped when the first train was late enough that it meant we missed our connecting train to Waterloo! Despite arriving over 40 minutes later than planned, we were blessed when London’s Poppy Cabs took us from the station to the location in good time. With some assistance from a very helpful RBL steward, I was taken to the SAMA contingent and took my place amongst them.
An early start at Fareham Station
This was where the experience began. As soon as I joined the group, I was welcomed by the veterans. I was given a nip of Port from a hip flask of one kindly veteran. Another, one of the lead group of the SAMA contingent, gave me a Falklands 40 badge.
We were arranged into rows of six and then we stood for a long while, waiting for the service at the Cenotaph to finish and the march past to begin. Having taken my place in the ranks, I met Tony Charles. I discovered that, during the war, he was on HMS Intrepid. Starting out from Portsmouth, Tony relayed the feeling of camaraderie and high spirits on the ship. The crew had just been reunited shortly after they had all been dismissed from Intrepid because the ship was to be sacrificed as part of defence cuts. He described how the mood changed as the ship moved further south, with realisation of the seriousness of the situation when the General Belgrano was sunk, and particularly when HMS Sheffield was lost. It was very enlightening to hear of the experiences of these men who were so young in 1982.
Photo of the lines of vets behind me – including my Photobomber!!
Whilst we waited, I took the opportunity to take a couple of photos of the long lines of veterans. I used the selfie feature to take a photo of all those behind me. Having taken the photo, one of those vets behind me complained that I hadn’t given him time to photobomb the shot. However, having checked it together, he had indeed got himself into the photo. We laughed about it at the time but, just to prove the world is a really small place, when I uploaded the photo to Facebook later that day, I was contacted by my brother in law, telling me that my photo-bomber was one of his Royal Engineers ‘oppos.
Eventually the time came and we got the order to start the march past. We made our way towards the Cenotaph and the order “Eyes left” was given. As I looked at the flags on the Cenotaph, I thought of Dad and also my Grandad, who spent most of WW2 in the “Forgotten Fleet” in the Pacific. I wished Dad could have been there to have this experience rather than me – he deserved it, even if he would have said he didn’t.
Dad
Grandad
On passing the Cenotaph, we were cheered by another group from SAMA, proudly wearing their scarves. This continued as we worked our way down Whitehall. The cheers and good will from the thousands of people who lined the route, was something I naively hadn’t even considered; of course these people were going to cheer the veterans!! We marched round to the right and then found ourselves at the other side of Horse Guards Parade. Before entering the square, the order to “Eyes right” was given and we were saluted by Prince Edward who was on the dais with the Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace. Once on Horse Guards, we were brought to a halt and dismissed.
Passing the Women of WW2 monument – approaching The Cenotaph
My Intrepid friend – Tony
The event that had begun over a year before, with me wondering whether I could even take part, had finished. Having taken some photos for Tony and his former shipmates, I said goodbye and thanked them for looking after me so well.
I made my way back to find Tommy, who was somewhere amongst the 10,000 people who had lined the route. The whole place was heaving with veterans heading for pubs, bars and restaurants and we needed to return to Waterloo station. We finally noticed a black cab amongst the traffic. The driver who was on his way home to Hornchurch, noticed I was wearing Dad’s medals, and agreed to drop us back to Waterloo. He refused to take any payment for the journey. This was typical of the spirit of the day and it is comforting to know that our brave veterans are treated with such respect and affection by everyone.
