Donald Poole, also aged 101, who served with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, wanted to “pay tribute to the poor souls who have died in all conflicts and I know how lucky I am to still be here”.
While others were lining up to thank his generation, he paid his own thanks to the civilian services, “particularly the fire service who saved so many lives during the Blitz”.
That was a reminder that as well as the military veterans, the commemoration by the Cenotaph brings together representatives of other types of service.
There were police, fire services, ambulance staff, transport workers and coastguards laying wreaths and marching.
The Remembrance service is a time to pause in a noisy world. There’s the two-minute silence and then the Last Post is played by a bugler, reverberating around Westminster rather than the usual roar of traffic.
The scandals surrounding the King’s brother Andrew have been like a howling gale in recent weeks, but this was a moment of quiet and stillness.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.bbc.co.uk ’
