Men and women of the armed forces who sacrificed their lives were on Sunday honoured at the 2016 Remembrance Day ceremony.
Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, performing the functions of the President, together with veterans, Cabinet, Joint Services, diplomatic community and a large number of Guyanese, gathered at the Cenotaph on Main Street, Georgetown, for the ceremony, a release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) stated.
Minister Greenidge in his statement said, “We are forever indebted to them for their supreme sacrifice in the cause of peace and freedom. Their example strengthens our resolve to maintain our efforts for a world at peace with justice, and prosperity for all peoples.”
Greenidge urged the gathering to remember those Guyanese who, since Independence, have made sacrifices for Guyana and died executing those services.
He acknowledged those working assiduously to defend “our territory and our patrimony throughout our country.”
Members of the diplomatic corps and representatives of regional and international bodies and organisations participated.
Additionally, the ceremony was preceded by prayers from religious leaders of the Christian, Muslim and Hindu faiths, and two minutes of silence, during which attendees were encouraged to think or pray “in remembrance of those who made the great sacrifice.”
After the ceremony, Greenidge was given a military salute during a march past by the Joint Services and Guyana Veterans Legion Association at the corner of Main and New Market streets.
Remembrance Day is observed in Commonwealth countries on the second Sunday of November. The War Memorial, also known as the Cenotaph, was unveiled on August 14, 1923 by the then Governor Graeme Thomson.
It is a national memorial to Guyanese soldiers who lost their lives in World Wars I and II.
Inscribed on it are the words: Devotion, Humanity, Fortitude and Sacrifice.
Additional photos by Carl Croker:
