Capt Theo Hogg, OC Landing Craft for 4 Assault Squadron Royal Marines, said: “Today’s service has been particularly poignant as it is almost ten years to the day since Marine Jason Hylton was tragically killed in Iraq, when his raiding craft hit an improvised explosive device on the Shatt-al-Arab waterway.’’ One of the two Royal Marines mess decks in Bulwark is known as Hylton Barracks.
The old Christian cemetery in Manama, Bahrain, was the scene of a service attended by personnel from the United Kingdom Maritime Component Command. Twenty members of staff previously worked to tidy up the site ahead of the service, which was attended by the Prince of Wales. Personnel also held a private service on Remembrance Sunday, attended by bugler Lt Grant Bentley, one of the Battle Watch Captains.
On the other side of the world sailors from HMS Clyde attended the annual service at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands while 55 sailors and Royal Marines held a service on the flight deck of HMS Protector off South Georgia in the South Atlantic.
Members of the RFA and Royal Marines from RFA Wave Knight took part in a Remembrance Service in Montserrat.
In the UK the main focus was on the national service at the Cenotaph in London, where more than 100 men and women of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service were on duty.
In the shadow of Leach Building - home to Navy Command – at HMS Excellent on Whale Island, hundreds of serving sailors and Royal Marines, plus civil servants attended the act of remembrance, led by the Venerable Ian Wheatley, Chaplain of the Fleet.
The Naval Service has lost 23 people since November 11 2015. The names of each one was read out by WO1 Mick Davidson (on behalf of the Royal Navy and RFA) and Royal Marines Regimental Sergeant Major WO1 Philip Gilby (on behalf of the Corps and the Fleet Air Arm).
A bugler from the Royal Marines Band Collingwood sounded the Last Post and, at the end of two minutes’ silence, Reveille.
The Naval Service and MOD staff stood in silence across Plymouth as they remembered the country’s war dead on with a two-minute silence on Armistice Day.
Royal Marines of 1 Assault Squadron, (based at Royal Marines Tamar), and civilian staff and sailors (of HMS Drake), held Armistice Day services in HMNB Devonport.
Army Commandos from 29 Commando (the Royal Citadel) also staged a service at their base with families attending and children laying wreaths.
In a service conducted in their own Memorial Garden within Royal Marines Barracks Stonehouse, personnel from 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group held a two-minute silence to pay tribute to the fallen. Visitors were welcomed to the service, including veterans and children from St George’s Primary School.
In Gateshead Prince Michael of Kent joined reservists from HMS Calliope for a service, while in Scotland personnel from HMNB Clyde took part in services at Helensburgh, Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge.
Cadets from Britannia Royal Naval College joined the civic parade in Dartmouth, where Capt Jol Woodard, the Commanding Officer was among the wreath layers.
In Kingswear representatives from BRNC were among those who attended the unveiling of a memorial plaque in honour of the Free French Forces based there in World War 2.
Around 140 trainee sailors from HMS Raleigh attended the service held by the war graves at Horson Cemetery in Torpoint. The cemetery is the final resting place for 74 Service personnel; 48 sailors, 25 soldiers and one airman. Of those, 44 sailors and 21 Royal Engineers lost their lives when a German bomb hit an air-raid shelter within HMS Raleigh on 28 April 1941, during the Plymouth Blitz. Wreaths were laid and crosses of remembrance were placed on each grave by trainee sailors.
A sizeable Royal Navy contingent from shore establishments across south Hampshire took part in the annual Service of Remembrance in Portsmouth.
The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Collingwood led a parade of 78 Navy personnel, marching into the city’s Guildhall Square for the service conducted by the Very Reverend David Brindley, Dean of Portsmouth Anglican Cathedral, and Father James McAuley of St John’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. HMS Collingwood provided a 24-man guard and there were 18-strong platoons from HMS Sultan and HMS King Alfred. Ten ceremonial staff from HMS Excellent also joined the parade.
The service concluded with a wreath-laying ceremony at the war memorials adjacent to the Guildhall. Among the wreath-layers were Rear Admiral Richard Stokes, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Support), Maj Gen Rob Magowan, Commandant General Royal Marines, and Capt Sam Shattock of the RFA.
A brand-new Wildcat and a legendary Swordfish flew past St Bartholomew’s Church at Yeovilton where 200 personnel from the nearby air station – Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army Air Corps, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, civilian staff, contractors, veterans and families – gathered for Remembrance ceremonies.
As well as being the most poignant date in the military calendar, November 11 is the most important date in the Fleet Air Arm’s history, the anniversary of the attack on Taranto when a small number of Swordfish decimated the Italian Fleet at anchor in 1940.
Following prayers and the reading of the Roll of Honour, the two-minutes silence was announced by a Royal Marine bugler sounding the Last Post from the church tower.
The ceremony concluded with a flypast of the Royal Navy Historic Flight’s Swordfish, which scattered poppies over surrounding fields.
POPTI Natalie Bavister laid a wreath on behalf of the Royal Navy at Wembley before the England v Scotland World Cup qualifiying match. Natalie, based at HMS Nelson, is captain of the women’s football team and was joined by reps from the Army and RAF.
Sailors from HMS Sultan took part in a number of local Remembrance Sunday events throughout the community.
At the War Memorial Hospital, Gosport, Capt Peter Towell, the CO of Sultan, laid a wreath on behalf of the base. At the Fleet Air Arm Memorial, Lee-on-the-Solent, Cdr Mark Hamilton, the Executive Officer of HMS Sultan joined Rear Admiral Keith Blount, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Aviation, Amphibious Capability & Carriers) in laying a wreath. Lt Cdr Joe Wood, the First Lieutenant at HMS Sultan, laid a wreath at Lee-on-the-Solent’s Sunken Garden.
The weekend prior to Armistice Day saw 400 serving and veteran submariners, including from WWII, attend the Submariners’ Remembrance Service and Parade at Middle Temple Gardens, Embankment, London.
The unique service and parade is held each year to honour submariners of all generations who have Crossed the Bar.
