War veterans are honoured by Slovaks and expats at Remembrance Sunday service near Bratislava
The ceremony took place at the site where an RAF bomber was downed 80 years ago, during World War II.
Scores of attendees wearing red poppies of remembrance paid silent tribute to the sacrifice of service personnel past and present at a moving ceremony near Bratislava on Sunday, November 10.
The event, known as Remembrance Sunday, originally began in Britain and Commonwealth countries as a way to mark those who fell in the First World War. It takes place on the second Sunday in November, nearest to the date of the armistice that ended at the war at 11am on November 11, 1918. Similar events have since spread worldwide to countries, including Slovakia, to mark the sacrifice of all those service-people affected by conflict.
The ceremony by the River Danube in Čunovo, which was organised by the British Embassy, took place at a memorial to a Royal Air Force (RAF) bomber crew who lost their lives in a mission over Slovakia 80 years ago, in October 1944.
The service, which was attended by a Slovak Army honour guard and military band, culminated in a performance of the “Last Post” by a Slovak Army bugler, followed by two minutes’ silence.
Wreaths were then laid by British Ambassador Nigel Baker and representatives of the Slovak Armed Forces and Slovak Ministry of Defence, and by representatives of the Embassies of the United States, Ireland, Australia, Poland, Hungary and Cyprus.
Civilian attendees were also encouraged to leave small wooden crosses marked with poppies in personal acts of remembrance. By the end of the ceremony, dozens of the wooden crosses were spread across the grass in front of the memorial.
The Slovak and British flags being held by a Slovak Army honour guard at the remembrance ceremony in Čunovo on November 10. (Source: John Skelton)
The RAF Memorial at Čunovo. (Source: John Skelton)In public remarks, Ambassador Baker recalled the words of former US President Theodore Roosevelt in a1910 speech applauding the “man in the arena” who acts rather than criticising.
The ambassador paid tribute to those who, he said “keep us safe; and continue to defend our freedom and our democracy while working side by side within NATO to prevent the recurrence of war. In our different ways, our countries support Ukraine, because their security is our security. And no one understands that better than Ukraine’s neighbours.”
Those attending the ceremony wore red paper and enamel poppies, a symbol of remembrance that recalls the flowers that grew on the battlefields of Flanders, on the western front, and elsewhere in World War One.
John Skelton, a British expat who lives in Banská Bystrica and who attended the Sunday service in Bratislava, will deliver lectures this week to audiences in central Slovakia on the significance of Remembrance Day and the symbolism of red poppies.
He will speak to students from three local schools at the cinema in Slovenská Ľupča on November 12 at 11.00, and then deliver two lectures at the State Library in Banská Bystrica on November 14 at 09.00 and 10.30.
Related
Share this page
Guest Posts by Easy Branches
