The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Events smaller but sacrifice is honoured on Armistice Day
Nicola Sturgeon paid tribute to the nation’s war dead as Armistice Day was marked across the country.
The first minister said the sacrifice of those who “helped to secure the freedoms we enjoy today” must never be forgotten.
The first minister said: “On the 11th of November 1918 the guns fell silent and the First World War came to an end.
“Every year, on Remembrance Day we commemorate that event. We remember those who died in that war and in subsequent conflicts.
“And in doing so we pay tribute to the continuing service and sacrifice of our Armed Forces community.”
She said: “Sadly, because of Covid, these events will have to be very different this year and our national services of remembrance, unfortunately, will not be open to the public.
“However, I know people across Scotland will still be taking the time to mark this Remembrance Day.”
Ms Sturgeon observed the two-minute silence at St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh alongside service personnel from the Navy, Army and RAF.
She remembered all those “from Scotland, the UK, the Commonwealth, and around the world who paid the ultimate price”.
Members of the public were urged to mark the occasion from their doorstep, but some scaleddown memorial events were held.
Veterans were among
those in attendance at the Garden of Remembrance in Edinburgh.
T he Erskine charity, which cares for veterans and their spouses, said due to the pandemic many veterans would observe the silence “from the safety and privacy of their care homes”.
Wing Commander Ian Cumming, the charity’s chief executive , also defended the poppy symbol from criticism.
He said: “At Erskine, we will continue to wear that little red flower.
“Our remembrance services will honour the sacrifices of all who were lost or wounded during wars of national survival in Europe, or subsequent military and peacekeeping operations around the world.
“We care for those who
returned, to remember those who did not, with heartfelt hope of enduring peace.”
Scaled back socially distanced commemorations were held across the UK, from London to Cardiff and Edinburgh.
This year, Armistice Day marked the centenary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior in London’ s Westminster Abbey after the end of the First World War.
Poet Laureate Simon Armitage penned a poem commemorating the anniversary, which honours the symbolic “son we lost” who is “a soul without name or rank or age or home”.
Wearing face masks, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall attended a private, televised service at the abbey to mark the funeral of the unknown British serviceman whose body was brought back from northern France in 1920.
Other guests at the abbey service included Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and leading figures from the armed forces.
Elsewhere in London, early morning train services run by Great Western Railway carried poppy wreaths from locations along its network to Paddington Station.
The Pop pies to Padding ton initiative, involving military charities, local authorities and military bases, aimed to place the wreaths by the station’s war memorial on Platform 1 on behalf of those unable to travel to London for remembrance events this year.
At the Cenotaph on Whitehall a small closed ceremony was held, helping to mark 100 years since its permanent inauguration.
Lance Sergeant Stuart Laing from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards performed the Last Post and Reveille on a bugle recovered from the Somme battlefield in 1915.
Earlier, environmental campaigners from Extinction Rebellion staged a protest at the memorial, unveiling a banner which read: “Honour Their Sacrifice, Climate Change Means War”.
Commemorations were held in Staffordshire at the National Memorial Arboretum.