The Royal British Legion Benidorm branch held a special "Act of Remembrance" at Cuidad Patricia today - Sunday 10th November 2013.
The 2 minutes silence, observed after the Last Post was played, coincided with that held at the Cenotaph in London - and was officiated by John Derrick - Chairman of the Benidorm branch and assisted by Pamela Dawson Tasker, branch secretary.

Standard Bearer Roy Downing

The honour of Standard Bearer went to 92 year old Roy Downing - the branches oldest member who retired from the forces in 1987. I spoke to Roy after the ceremony to hear about his military past and he told me that he served in the Royal Navy, proudly showing me his collection of medals (and rightly so) - which included the Imperial Service Medal. He was actually in the Channel during the D Day landings and I could have spoken to him for the entire afternoon.

David Mills

There were many ex-service personnel in attendance, one of which was David Mills who joined the forces in 1961 at the tender age of 15 - currently it is 16 but the British Government is trying to raise the age to 18. He certainly didn´t look old enough to have joined in 1961 and I was fairly stunned when he told me that he was 67. He retired on 16th September 1991 and now lives in Altea - that is, when he isn´t trekking on one of his formidable sponsored walks to some far off remote location to raise money for Help for Heroes. His first posting was to Borneo, from 65-66 and followed on to serve in Malaya, Singapore, Far East, Northern Ireland among others and was even on Loan Service to Brunei. In 1986 he was commissioned a Warrant Officer then retired in the rank of Captain. He is currently contemplating his next trek - probably setting off next year.... I shall keep you all updated.

As well as Brits there was also a representation from the Dutch Veterans - Max was one of 40 members on the Costa Blanca who belonged to their association. On 21st March each year they observe the Dutch Veterans Day here which is attended by the Dutch Consul. Similar to the RBL, they hold a monthly meeting, on the 1st Thursday of every month (4pm) at "Something Else" - a popular restaurant in Albir.

However, those in attendance weren´t all of a certain age - the youngest had to be Paul Howden, who at the age of 40 had retired just over a year ago having served 22 years in the army. He was a front Line Medic (CMT) serving in the Royal Medical Core and also joined the forces at 16. He told me that there weren´t many career option in his home town of Grimsby and having lost both of his parents at a young age wanted to accomplish something in the caring profession. His first tour was to the Gulf in 1991 and last to Afghanistan, after which he retired as a WO2 Sergeant Major. He belonged to the RBL in the UK and this was his first but certainly not last involvement with the Benidorm branch.

It was certainly a very moving and thought provoking time for all those that attended, particularly when both John and Pamela, followed by 2 attendees - Sam Sampson and Lesley Taylor spoke to those gathered. For me personally it was an honour to be among them.