Les remembers the mates he lost and their families
MILLIONS of people have fallen silent on Armistice Day to remember those who died in the nation’s wars and conflicts.
Events were held across the country yesterday to mark the 99th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
In London, Big Ben, which has not tolled since vital repairs began in August, chimed at the stroke of 11am marking the start of a two-minute silence yesterday.
There was also a service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, while many gathered at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, led by the Duke of Gloucester.
Services took place in places like Brighton, East Sussex, where heroes who died while searching for beach landmines were remembered from 452ft (138 metres) in the air.
Veterans, military personnel and relatives marked the silence, taking in views from the top of the world’s tallest moving observation tower – the British Airways i360.
At the National Memorial Arboretum, veterans of all ages gathered in a visual reminder of the UK’s near-constant involvement in conflicts beyond the end of the Second World War, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Among those remembering was 99-year-old Les Cherrington, below, of the Staffordshire Yeomanry Queen’s Own Royal Regiment, who was the sole survivor from his tank crew in the North African desert in 1943. Mr Cherrington’s Sherman tank was left a flaming wreck by a German field gun but he managed to clamber free despite being badly burned and shrapnel nearly severing his left arm. After almost bleeding to death overnight in a slit trench, he was believed to be among the dead by a New Zealand soldier who came across him and only realised his mistake when Les shouted “water”. Mr Cherrington, originally from Albrighton, Staffordshire, said of his lost friends: “I think more today of the mates I lost, and their families, than I do myself. “I thank God every day that I’m still here.”