Page 53 - RADC Bulletin 2022

saw another very early start for everyone involved, breakfast/briefs at Wellington before getting settled at the RAH. We had a dress rehearsal first thing with the BBC film crew, safe to say the reality started to set it and the butterflies were real.
It was now time for the performance, with the presence of the Royal Family, friends and fellow RADC watching in the audience and at home; we could not wait for it to begin. We were so excited to do our Corps proud. We marched down those steps with our heads held high, knowing this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
You would think that walking down a set of stairs would be easy, right? However, marching in time, down a set of stairs
with your head up and being on national television is harder than it looks, but we made it look easy, no tick-tocking in sight... bonus!
Standing to attention and participating in the final hymns, two-minute silence and poppy drop was incredibly moving. You could feel the emotions through the whole auditorium, it was something quite special we will never forget that.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the RADC for letting us represent you at the event and we hope we did you proud. The opportunity to attend this event was a once in a lifetime for sure, we are so grateful to have attended and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each other too.
Pte Hughes
I am fairly new to the Royal Army Dental Corps and whilst going through my training to become a qualified military dental nurse
I found myself being given an opportunity
I couldn’t have imagined, to be offered a space to represent the Royal Army Dental Corps on our 100th anniversary at the Festival of Remembrance. I was honoured to be given this opportunity.
The days of rehearsal was long and tiring.
Through the long days all the different cap badges that were present from all services supporting the event found morale in every moment we were there.
To hear many stories of those that are no longer with us today being told by loved ones brought a tear to everyone’s eye and reminded ourselves that no one will ever be forgotten. Once the poppies started
to fall for the two-minute silence there was an overwhelming sense of pride and humbleness.
This experience will remain a highlight in my career.
Cpl Crook
When I was informed I had been selected to attend the Festival of Remembrance as part of the RADC centenary I was pretty shocked and not really 100% sure what it entailed. So the first thing I did was look on YouTube at previous Festival of Remembrance parades.
This got me really excited as I know these opportunities do not come around very often.
When I arrived at Woolwich Barracks it was nice to see some old faces and get to know some new faces within the Corps. When looking at the itinerary we knew it was going to be a long few days when our first departure from Woolwich Barracks to Wellington Barracks was at 0530hrs for rehearsals. It’s safe to say it was noticeable that some of us had not done drill for many years! But after a few rehearsals it all came back to us. One thing that sticks in my mind from the remembrance parade was when we were able to sit in on the rehearsals
and listen to the stories of the fallen heroes’ families, this was very moving and a few tears were shed from many of us within the group.
One of the proudest moments was when we all got to march down the stairs and we turned around and the Royal Family were sat there in the Royal Box. That’s a moment I will never forget and I’m sure this will be a story I will tell in many years to come, this is certainly a highlight of my military career.
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