In the USA, Memorial Day for the dead every May is commemorated instead of Remembrance Day in November. But here in Bermuda, Canada, United Kingdom and elsewhere in the British Commonwealth of Nations, Remembrance Day, at the Cenotaph on Front Street in थेसिटी Hamil every November 11 is a very solemn day. For Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC, 1894-1946) Association Members, Friends, Families and Community members who are interested, it begins with an appearance at the BVRC War Memorial at Victoria Park, Hamilton, for a Parade and Service of Remembrance, with laying of wreaths and roll of honour. Then at 11 am, it is a parade for all surviving Bermuda veterans of World Wars and Korean War (none served in the more recent Gulf Wars or in Afghanistan or Iraq), in both the BVRC and other Bermuda military units such as the Bermuda Militia Artillery, etc. at that time.
Bermuda veterans of World Wars 1 and 2 and Korean War of the 1950s were mostly in the Bermuda Home Guard or serving abroad in the British Army (Mostly Caribbean Regiment or Lincolnshire Regiment), Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Merchant Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy. They included John Ward, a veteran of the 9th Submarine Flotilla.
If well enough to appear, they do so wearing their medals and march down part of Front Street.
The Remembrance Day Service pays tribute to those who served locally or overseas in the two wars above and died or survived, and those who guarded freedom at home. In Bermuda, as at November 11, 2008, there were 183 living registered veterans and 78 widows of veterans. The Home Guard were joined by Bermudians in Royal Naval Dockyard who kept to the Atlantic supply lines open, ensuring the British received essential supplies.
Accompanied by the Bermuda Regiment Band and Corps of Drums, the Salvation Army, North Village and Somerset Brigade Bands, and the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band, they reflect on their comrades who fought for freedom. At 11 a.m. guns fired at Fort Hamilton and Ordnance Island, St. George's, to signal the two-minute silence, held every year on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to commemorate the end of the First World War.
Wreaths were laid by Governor Sir Richard Gosney, Premier Ewart Brown, Hamilton Mayor Sutherland Madeiros, Opposition Leader, the president of the War Veterans' Association, the Defence Board chairman, the Regiment's commanding officer, the Commissioner of Police and the Chief Fire Officer.
They were followed by former members or on behalf of the Bermuda Home Guard and Bermuda Contingent of the Caribbean Regiment. A service takes place in the Bermuda Cathedral in the event of wet weather.
Remembrance Day events are also broadcast on the Government TV station CITV from 10.30 a.m (CableVision Ch. 2 and WOW Ch 102).also remembers the Island's war heroes, at a Remembrance Day Parade in the Town Square opposite the War Memorial. Those present include the Mayor, The Royal Artillery and Ex-Artillerymen's Association, Bermuda Island Pipe Band, The Bermuda Regiment Band & Corp of Drums, Bermuda Sea Cadets, St. George's Girl Guides, Bermuda Fire Service, Bermuda Regiment Wreath Bearers, Bermuda Regiment Gun Troop, and the Boy Scouts all participate in the ceremony.If veterans served with a British unit - as most of them did - they also get the HM Armed Forces Veterans Badge, and a War Pension from the United Kingdom. Eligibility to this prestigious badge was widened following Remembrance Day 2005 to include all those who served between the end of the Second World War and December, 1954, thus encompassing the Korean War and military campaigns in Malaya undertaken by British forces. Another local veteran, also honored, served in Korea with the US Army. Unlike in the UK, USA, Canada, etc. there are no retirement homes or hospitals specifically for World War veterans. Some Bermuda veterans have had to pay more than $100,000 out of their own money if they have it to overseas hospitals for operations, owing to a lack of affordable medical insurance and no social conscience in Bermuda from taxpayers' resources. If they don't have the funds, they don't get treated overseas.
However, in Bermuda, registered veterans and their widows get a Bermuda War Pensions benefit of $800 a month, plus full coverage on all prescription drugs, medical tests at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and partial coverage for medical visits to local medical general practitioners and specialists.
In England, on every Sunday before Remembrance Day in London, the Foreign Secretary, currently the Right Hon. Jack Straw, MP, on behalf of the Foreign & Commonwealth ओफ्फी London, England, which administers Bermuda, lays before the Cenotaph (later copied by Bermuda) in London Territorie. He is accompanied by the UK's Prime Minister, and leaders of the Opposition - those from the main Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.
The wreath is supplied to the FCO by the Directors and Staff of, and hand-made at, Kew Gardens, Britain's finest gardens, from flowers and botanicals in its collection from all the Overseas Territories including some prized Bermudiana. It always includes sprigs of two endemic Bermuda species, the Juniperus bermudiana (Bermuda Cedar) tree and Chiococca bermudiana (Bermuda snowberry) shrub.
Bermuda veterans of World Wars 1 and 2 and Korean War of the 1950s were mostly in the Bermuda Home Guard or serving abroad in the British Army (Mostly Caribbean Regiment or Lincolnshire Regiment), Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Merchant Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy. They included John Ward, a veteran of the 9th Submarine Flotilla.
If well enough to appear, they do so wearing their medals and march down part of Front Street.
The Remembrance Day Service pays tribute to those who served locally or overseas in the two wars above and died or survived, and those who guarded freedom at home. In Bermuda, as at November 11, 2008, there were 183 living registered veterans and 78 widows of veterans. The Home Guard were joined by Bermudians in Royal Naval Dockyard who kept to the Atlantic supply lines open, ensuring the British received essential supplies.
Accompanied by the Bermuda Regiment Band and Corps of Drums, the Salvation Army, North Village and Somerset Brigade Bands, and the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band, they reflect on their comrades who fought for freedom. At 11 a.m. guns fired at Fort Hamilton and Ordnance Island, St. George's, to signal the two-minute silence, held every year on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to commemorate the end of the First World War.
Wreaths were laid by Governor Sir Richard Gosney, Premier Ewart Brown, Hamilton Mayor Sutherland Madeiros, Opposition Leader, the president of the War Veterans' Association, the Defence Board chairman, the Regiment's commanding officer, the Commissioner of Police and the Chief Fire Officer.
They were followed by former members or on behalf of the Bermuda Home Guard and Bermuda Contingent of the Caribbean Regiment. A service takes place in the Bermuda Cathedral in the event of wet weather.
Remembrance Day events are also broadcast on the Government TV station CITV from 10.30 a.m (CableVision Ch. 2 and WOW Ch 102).also remembers the Island's war heroes, at a Remembrance Day Parade in the Town Square opposite the War Memorial. Those present include the Mayor, The Royal Artillery and Ex-Artillerymen's Association, Bermuda Island Pipe Band, The Bermuda Regiment Band & Corp of Drums, Bermuda Sea Cadets, St. George's Girl Guides, Bermuda Fire Service, Bermuda Regiment Wreath Bearers, Bermuda Regiment Gun Troop, and the Boy Scouts all participate in the ceremony.If veterans served with a British unit - as most of them did - they also get the HM Armed Forces Veterans Badge, and a War Pension from the United Kingdom. Eligibility to this prestigious badge was widened following Remembrance Day 2005 to include all those who served between the end of the Second World War and December, 1954, thus encompassing the Korean War and military campaigns in Malaya undertaken by British forces. Another local veteran, also honored, served in Korea with the US Army. Unlike in the UK, USA, Canada, etc. there are no retirement homes or hospitals specifically for World War veterans. Some Bermuda veterans have had to pay more than $100,000 out of their own money if they have it to overseas hospitals for operations, owing to a lack of affordable medical insurance and no social conscience in Bermuda from taxpayers' resources. If they don't have the funds, they don't get treated overseas.
However, in Bermuda, registered veterans and their widows get a Bermuda War Pensions benefit of $800 a month, plus full coverage on all prescription drugs, medical tests at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and partial coverage for medical visits to local medical general practitioners and specialists.
In England, on every Sunday before Remembrance Day in London, the Foreign Secretary, currently the Right Hon. Jack Straw, MP, on behalf of the Foreign & Commonwealth ओफ्फी London, England, which administers Bermuda, lays before the Cenotaph (later copied by Bermuda) in London Territorie. He is accompanied by the UK's Prime Minister, and leaders of the Opposition - those from the main Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.
The wreath is supplied to the FCO by the Directors and Staff of, and hand-made at, Kew Gardens, Britain's finest gardens, from flowers and botanicals in its collection from all the Overseas Territories including some prized Bermudiana. It always includes sprigs of two endemic Bermuda species, the Juniperus bermudiana (Bermuda Cedar) tree and Chiococca bermudiana (Bermuda snowberry) shrub.
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