10,000 take part in procession before Cenotaph service
THEY had marched to war full of pride and patriotism, waved off by their loved ones.
But, all too soon, the brave Tommies were trudging up the line to death and staggering over the top into oblivion.
The “lucky” ones hobbled home to their families, but many never spoke about their bloody journey into hell.
Yesterday, exactly a century after the guns fell silent, the dead of World War I marched again – in the hearts and minds of 10,000 descendants.
Pensioners, parents, teenagers and children with soldiers’ medals on their chests, and fading photographs in their pockets, lined up to pay BY RACHAEL BLETCHLY and TOM PARRY tribute to all who fought for King and Country.
And as the touching People’s Procession snaked past the poppy-covered Cenotaph on London’s Whitehall, people from across Britain looked on and said: “Thank you.”
It was an extraordinary occasion. Lucia Chilcott said: “It feels as if the ghosts of the fallen are walking with us today.”
The 67-year-old, from Kent, was there to honour her great-uncle Richard Nunneley, along with her Italian grandad and five other relatives.
“I now feel a duty to keep his memory alive, so that future generations know what those men endured.”
Those taking part in the procession gathered in the Mall to watch the traditional Service of Remembrance on big screens. Royalty, foreign diplomats and politicians paid their respects to the dead of all wars but especially those who had served in the trenches in France and Belgium.
The Queen, attending her 66th Cenotaph service, watched from a balcony and led the nation in two minutes’ silence.
Prince Charles laid a wreath on behalf of his mother.
Then, in a highly symbolic first, the president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, laid a wreath on behalf of the German people.
Prime Minister Theresa May, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford were among the politicians to lay tributes.
After a short religious service, thousands of veterans from all of the Armed Forces marched along Whitehall in the annual Royal British Legion parade.
It was just one of many poignant ceremonies taking place across the UK and the world, emphasising the number of countries affected by the Great War.
About 9.7million soldiers and 10million civilians died in the conflict.