Page 61 - Bugle Issue 18 Auntumn 2021

Commemoration of the 212th Anniversary of the Death of Sir John Moore
The anniversary of the death of Sir John Moore (Nov 1761- Jan 1809) at the Battle of Corunna, is tradi-
tionally remembered
by RIFLES, forming and antecedent Regiments at a wreath laying ceremony at the Sir John Moore memorial in St Paul’s Cathedral, London on the day nearest to the anni- versary.
This year restrictions prevented us laying our respective regimental wreaths. Fortu- nately, the Treasurer of St Paul’s, the Reverend Canon Jonathan Brewster, was able to enter the Cathedral and lay the KOYLI, Rifles and Ox & Bucks wreaths on our behalf.
101-year-old WW2 veteran Fred Adamson, 1/4th Battalion KOYLI attended an event at the National Arboretum in Staffordshire on 6th June 2021 to mark the official opening of the British Normandy Memorial in Ver-sur-Mer France, 77 years after D-Day. Due to restrictions veterans were unable to travel to Normandy but were able to watch the event live streamed to the Arboretum concurrently with commemorations jointly taking place in Staffordshire. The British Normandy Memorial records the names
of the 22,442 servicemen and women under British command who fell on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944.
Fred was awarded the Legion D’honneur by the French government in 2016 for his part in the liberation of France, it is their highest military and civilian award. During the event Rear-Admiral Luc Pages, Defence Attaché to the French Embassy, formally acknowledged those veterans present who had been given the award but who had not personally received it from a French official.
There were around 100 veterans in
attendance at the Arboretum and although it would have been nice to have travelled to Normandy it was nevertheless a significant and poignant ceremony and a chance to meet other veterans.
While at the Arboretum Fred also laid
a wreath at the 49th Infantry West Riding Division ‘Polar Bear’ Memorial to fellow Conisbrough resident and KOYLI veteran, Ronnie McGrath who was killed in Normandy aged 17. He is named on column 98 of the new memorial.
While
at the Arboretum Fred also laid a wreath
Portrait of Lt Gen
Sir John Moore KB
Lt Gen Sir John Moore
Memorial
Admiral Luc Pages Defence Attache
to French Embassy and Fred Adamson
KOYLI Wreath laid at
Lincolnshire Regiment
the Steinker memorial
and KOYLI memorial
NORTH
KOYLI Norwegian Campaign Veterans Remembered
Local people in Norway honoured the memory of soldiers from the KOYLI and the Lincolnshire Regiment for their sacrifice during the Norwegian campaign of WWII.
At the Steinker memorial on 21 April at a low-key wreath laying service marking the 81st anniversary of the battle, members of the local community laid a KOYLI wreath and recited the KOYLI Regimental Collect.
Our thanks to Paul and Brit Kiddell, and to the local community for remembering our fallen and all those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Cede Nullis.
RIFLES The Bugle 61
LIGHT INFANTRY AND KOYLI REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATION
KOYLI VETERAN IN THE NEWS