Yahoo News I went to Bedworth Armistice Day Parade 2024 and heard the most remarkable story
When it comes to marking Armistice Day, Bedworth is the ONLY place outside of London to have observed the moment when the agreement was made to end fighting of the First World War for more than 100 years.
It is the biggest day in the town's annual calendar and one in which locals are rightly proud of. And today was no exception.
It came as no surprise to me to hear that Sky TV was broadcasting some of the event live nor that ITV crews were there either. The town's efforts to mark the momentous moment, as well as pay its respects to the fallen, is simply something you have to witness.
READ MORE: 80 faces from Nuneaton Remembrance Sunday Parade 2024
Thanks to the incredible efforts of the Bedworth Armistice Day committee, the event is one the entire local community turns out to - as well as people from much further afield. Most years I am left with a lump in my throat. To see proud veterans determinedly get out of their wheelchairs so that they can actually make the walk to lay a wreath at the memorial is as moving and humbling sight you will ever see.
So is that of the faces of local school children waving flags as the proud parade marches past. Even little ones in buggies had huge poppies attached to them. That's how much it means to people in this town - that, regardless of age, they pay their respects.
But it was a story I heard long after the parade had finished and the paper poppies were left to dance around the cemetery that will stick with me. In the quiet of the Coventry Road cemetery, Ben Mayne, a local second world War historian and Battlefield guide had gone to look at the wreaths.
He said there was someone else in the cemetery - an elderly man who placed a poppy cross at the memorial and bowed his head before moving away.
This poppy cross was for his father, who was killed on 31 July 1944. Mr Mayne said: " I instantly guessed and knew he would have been in Normandy. A few minutes later, I saw the elderly gentleman and went to ask if it was him that placed the cross for his father. He said yes, and that he was only four years old when his father died. He said that he had never been to visit his father’s grave. At 84, he said 'I'm too old now and I will probably regret it.'
"I reassured him that his father was buried in a Common Wealth War Grave Commission beautiful and peaceful cemetery and that next time I am there I will go and visit his father. 80 years have passed and he has never forgotten his father who he never really knew."
He said moments like this hit home the realities of war. The man was no older than some of the school children who lined Sergeant Simon Valentine Way when he lost his father.
He grew up never knowing him as he made the ultimate sacrifice and was barely able to say hello to him, let alone goodbye. In fact, he says he will never be able to make the journey to his father's final resting place.
It is a sobering reminder of not just the men and women who lost their lives - but the families they left behind. This is why the blood red poppies we proudly wear and events like Bedworth Armistice are so incredibly important.
This man's remarkably sad story is a poignant reminder of why it is so important that we must always continue to remember.
