We can’t meet ...but we can stand together
Katherine Jenkins and veterans back our campaign for heroes’ remembrance
FORCES sweetheart Katherine Jenkins and military figures have backed our campaign asking the public to mark Remembrance Sunday with a doorstep two-minute silence.
For the first time in 100 years the wreath laying at the Cenotaph in Whitehall will be closed to the public and there will be restrictions on local ceremonies due to the pandemic.
So we are appealing to the nation to remember the heroes of the two world wars and other conflicts at 11am on November 8 by standing outside their homes in silence for two minutes.
Opera singer Katherine, who sang We’ll Meet Again with Dame Vera Lynn at the 60th Anniversary of VE Day, said: “We can’t gather together in the usual way but we can and should still come together and honour our nation’s veterans.”
Katherine, 40, a trustee of the British Forces Foundation who has entertained the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, added: “I would urge everyone to stand on their doorstep on Remembrance Sunday to mark the two minutes’ silence.”
Former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, also backs our campaign, and said: “This is a wonderful idea and I fully back the Mirror’s appeal to the nation.
SPIRIT
“The men and women we honour on Remembrance Sunday, and those who mercifully survived the war, were the last generation in this country to undergo the kind of widespread national restrictions and hardships now being inflicted on us by coronavirus.
“Their bulldog spirit, defiance and determination to win sets an example to us all. We should harness that spirit to defiantly stand against this new enemy.” Colonel Hamish de BrettonGordon, a retired Army chemical weapons expert, said: “I fully back this appeal and wi l l proudly stand on my doorstep at this time, wearing my medals, and remember the heroics of those who defended Britain.” Colonel Simon Diggins, the former Armed Forces attache to Afghanistan, said: “This is a fabulous idea of the Mirror’s. “Today, with this virus, we are once again facing the deprivation of liberties, the limitation on freedom of movement, the wearing of masks, and so on.
“I would like to think of that during Remembrance Sunday.” Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “We all owe a debt of gratitude to those who have served and sacrificed in the defence of this country. So I fully support the Mirror’s campaign.” Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey said: “We welcome this call by the Mirror for people to pay their own special tribute.”
I fully back this appeal and will proudly stand with my medals
COLONEL HAMISH DE BRETTON-GORDON