Gibraltar pays tribute to its fallen at London Cenotaph and National Remembrance Gardens

Gibraltar House has marked Remembrance this year by laying wreaths at the Cenotaph in London and at the Gibraltar War Memorial in Staffordshire.

On Remembrance Sunday, 8 November, Tyrone Duarte, Executive Director at Gibraltar House, laid a wreath on behalf of Gibraltar at the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, participating alongside representatives of the other British Overseas Territories.

The following day, Mr Duarte and colleagues from Gibraltar House travelled to the Royal British Legion National Remembrance Gardens in Alrewas - the site known as the National Memorial Arboretum until its renaming on 30 September. There, the delegation observed a two-minute silence and laid three wreaths at the Gibraltar War Memorial on behalf of HM Government of Gibraltar, the Royal British Legion (Gibraltar Branch) and the Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society.

Reflecting on the ceremonies, Mr Duarte - a veteran of the British Army Intelligence Corps - said: "I was deeply honoured to lay a wreath in memory of our fallen at the Cenotaph, on behalf of my fellow Gibraltarians and alongside representatives of the other British Overseas Territories.

"Similarly, the Remembrance Gardens bear witness to the sacrifice of millions of British and Commonwealth men and women, of all nationalities, races and creeds, who laid down their lives in the service of sovereign and country, for our freedoms and for their comrades. It is right that Gibraltar's fallen are remembered here, at the heart of England, with immense gratitude and profound humility. Gibraltar House will now carry out this solemn act of remembrance every year."

The Gibraltar War Memorial was spearheaded by Joe Brugada and unveiled by HM Government of Gibraltar on 13 October 2015. Carved from a six-ton block of limestone from the Rock, it is dedicated to Gibraltarians who served in the Armed Forces and died in armed conflict.