Remembrance Day this year marked the enlistment of 201 Caymanian men in the World War II Trinidad Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

The service took place on Sunday 13 November around the Cenotaph of Elmslie Memorial Church, Harbour Drive.

After all the uniformed organisations took their place around the cross, the service began with the arrival of Acting Premier, Mr. Mike Adam, followed by the arrival of Acting Governor, Donovan Ebanks.

Following the Royal Salute by all the uniformed officers, H.E. The Acting Governor said:  “They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”

Rev. Dr. Yvette Noble Bloomfield then announced the two-minute silence, which ended by the firing of the signal Gun.

All uniformed officers saluted, at the sound of a single trumpet playing The Last Post.

Captain Dale Ebanks read the poem, “The Inquisitive Mind of a Child”:

“Why are they selling poppies, Mummy?

Selling poppies in town today.

The poppies, child, are flowers of love,

For the men who marched away.

“But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy?

Why not a beautiful rose?

Because my child, men fought and died

In the fields where the poppies grow,”

Following the poem, wreaths were laid at the foot of the cross by Donovan Ebanks, Mike Adam; Leader of the Opposition Alden McLaughlin; members of the Cayman Islands Veterans Association, as well as leaders of all the different religions and denominations.

Reverend Nicholas Sykes and Pastor Alson Ebanks, offered up prayers, before the National Anthem was sung. The Royal Salute and General Salute heralded the official end of the service.

Meanwhile, at the Cenotaph in London, Premier, McKeeva Bush and Deputy Speaker Cline Glidden paid their respects to Caymanian merchant sailors who lost their lives in World War II.

As the Premier was paying his respects at the monument he immediately noticed that there was a T.T. Ebanks who also died on the S.S. Culebra but there was no mention of this sailor in the records provided to the Premier.  Now the Premier has asked Caymanians for their help in identifying this man and his family.