Wreath of autumn leaves

A feature of the Cenotaph ceremony in Whitehall yesterday that interested me was the laying of a wreath made from autumn leaves by the widow of a major killed in Iraq in August 2003. This type of wreath was intended to be symbolic of the new Armed Forces Memorial under construction at the National Memorial Arboretum near Lichfield in Staffordshire. The location is a 150 acre site opened in 2001 near to the centre of the UK. The Armed Forces Memorial(Regular and Reserve) will be dedicated to men and women killed on duty or as a result of terrorist action since the Second World War.

A number of other Service-related memorials are located there. There will also be a Chapel and a Visitor Centre. The site is under the control of the Royal British Legion.

Two other new features of the Whitehall ceremony yesterday which also indicate the changing nature of the annual ceremony were
1. For the first time no veteran of the 1914-18 War was on parade. Only five known survivors now remain andonly oneof them, aged 110, was well enough to travel but he was representing jis comrades at a ceremony in France.
2.Also for the first time the parade included members of the Shot at Dawn campaign, now that their ancestors have been granted pardons by the Government. There is a Shot at Dawn memorial at the Staffordshire arboretum.

Sadly on this very Remembrance Sunday there were new British casualties of war in Iraq.