Derek Achong

Memo­r­i­al Day 2012

Hun­dreds of na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty per­son­nel yes­ter­day gath­ered along­side Gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials and diplo­mats in ob­ser­vance of Re­mem­brance Day. The brief cer­e­mo­ny, which in­clud­ed a mil­i­tary drill per­formed by De­fence Force of­fi­cers, be­gan at Memo­r­i­al Park in Port-of-Spain around 11 am.

De­tach­ments from Reg­i­ment, Coast Guard, Air Guard, Air Force, De­fence Force Re­serves, Po­lice Ser­vice, Fire Ser­vice, and the Cadets, who were dressed in their stiffly-pressed for­mal uni­forms, all par­tic­i­pat­ed in the pa­rade. The pa­rade on­ly man­aged to at­tract a mod­est crowd.

Many of the spec­ta­tors com­plained of the ob­scure view they had at the van­tage points pro­vid­ed by the De­fence Force. They sug­gest­ed that the event and oth­ers like it be broad­cast live on tele­vi­sion in or­der to pro­mote pa­tri­o­tism in T&T.

Pres­i­dent George Maxwell-Richards, Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, Chief Jus­tice Ivor Archie and Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Jack Warn­er were all present to lay elab­o­rate wreaths in re­mem­brance of sol­diers who lost their lives in World Wars I and II.

A hand­ful of el­der­ly na­tion­als who served in World War II, in­clud­ing re­tired jus­tice Ul­ric Cross, were al­so present at the func­tion to lay wreaths. Re­mem­brance Day or Pop­py Day is held an­nu­al­ly on the sec­ond Sun­day in No­vem­ber or the day clos­est to No­vem­ber 11.

The date marks the day in 1918 in which an armistice be­tween Al­lied and Ger­man forces was signed, which sig­naled the end of World War I. Sim­i­lar memo­ri­als are held in oth­er parts of the world to ho­n­our and pay trib­ute to their sol­diers who died in the World War I and II con­flicts, which took place from 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945, re­spec­tive­ly. n See Page A7