9:03am Monday 9th November 2009
By Stephen Bailey
YOUNG and old were brought together at Bournemouth’s Remembrance Day parade.
The crowd watched from the railings of the lower gardens as pensioners and cadets marched to the Cenotaph.
Also looking on was SAS veteran Jack, 83, from Bournemouth, who declined to give his surname. He had been on the second glider to land at Pegasus bridge on D-Day.
He was in his wheelchair yards from former Parachute regiment soldier Ben Woodall, 28, from Christchurch, who has lost many of the friends he joined up with.
The image was echoed at the Cenotaph – a cross for Harry Clack, killed in 1916, was placed next to one for The Rifles men killed in 2009, who included Winton’s Captain Mark Hale.
The senior army officer present, Colonel Simon Kidner, from The Royal Signals at Blandford, said: “It’s been a fantastic turn out. There’s such a large number of people in uniform, all the veterans and cadets. It’s probably because of what we have seen in the media about Afghanistan.
“Young people are hopefully understanding the sacrifices people are making.”
The service heard the exhortation, last post and several prayers. Rabbis Adrian Jesner and Neil Amswych read Psalm 23, ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’ in Hebrew then English. Reverend Diane Roberts read Romans 8: 35-39, ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” The hymns were ‘O God, Our Help In Ages Past’ and the armed forces song, ‘Eternal Father, Strong To Save’.
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