Wreath-laying ceremony at dawn

A light breeze on the Gulf stirred the flags of TT, Australia and New Zealand, flying at half-mast as the High Commissioner read the introduction to the ceremony.

The Regiment and Coast Guard in full dress uniform formed a square around the cenotaph to the pilots of World War II. The small crowd of civilians consisted mainly of Australians and New Zealanders resident in TT and Trinidadians with special ties “Down Under.”

The weather and time of day were perfect for the solemn ceremony commemorating the Australians and New Zealander who died in the ill-fated battles at Gallipoli during World War One.

No one had to fan themselves or wipe away perspiration as Colonel Edmund Dillon of the T&T Defence Force read the prayer. Adele Taylor of the British High Commission (representing New Zealand) read the World War One poem, wreaths were laid, HE John Michel read the Ode of Remembrance “They shall not grow old…” and the Regiment bugler sounded the Last Post.

Two minutes’ silence in honour of the fallen was followed by Reveille while the flags were raised. After the Regiment band played the national anthems of Australia, New Zealand and Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner Michel invited all those present (including the Regiment and Coast Guard) to a “Gunfire Breakfast” of fruit, bacon and egg, tomato choka, saltfish, bakes, coffee, juice and the traditional rum and milk, given to the troops before they went into battle.

So ended this simple, dawn ceremony to honour the dead of lands half a world away from TT in a war that ended before most of us were born. And yet, at that time and in that place (the Chaguaramas Military Museum) it was a most moving tribute, a reminder of our Commonwealth ties