Official Remembrance Day Parade at the Menin Gate in Ypres by Sgt Winkett

Four cadets from Sevenoaks joined 30 other cadets from LASER to participate in the Official Remembrance Day Parade at the Menin Gate in Ypres.

We paraded through the streets of Ypres alongside cadets and military personnel from Canada, Scotland, Belgium, India and the London Metropolitan Police and London Fire Brigade. The service of Remembrance was held in the Menin Gate in the presence of HRH The Princess Royal. It was a very moving service and during the two minutes' silence, poppy petals fell from the ceiling.

We took part in the Last Post Ceremony which takes place every day of the year to commemorate those who lost their lives during the First World War. We paraded through the streets of Ypres up to the Menin Gate accompanied by the bands of London Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade and Pipes and Drums.

We visited the war graves cemeteries at Tyne Cot and Passchendale where we were shown the grave of the only soilder to have been awarded the VC Medal twice in the same war Captain N.G. Chavasse from the Royal Army Medical Corps. We visited the Trenches Museum where we could exprience some of the harsh realities of life in the trenches.

This trip has made me fully appricate the sacrifices of so many men so that we can live in peace.

Sgt Kathryn Winkett