World Wars I and II heroes remembered

Commander-in-chief of the disciplined services, President Donald Ramotar; Prime Minister Samuel Hinds; Opposition Leader David Granger; and other senior public officials laid wreaths at the Georgetown Cenotaph in observance of Remembrance Day.
The Georgetown Cenotaph, a war memorial located at the junction of Main and Church streets, was unveiled on August 14, 1923, by then Governor Graeme Thomson, and the first Armistice Day observance took place at the Church Street monument on November 11, 1923.
On the four faces of the base of the cenotaph, the words – Devotion, Humanity, Fortitude, and Sacrifice are inscribed.
The cenotaph is a national memorial to Guyanese soldiers who lost their lives in the first and second world wars. Guyanese soldiers served and fought in Egypt, France, Belgium, and East Africa.
After the end of the Second World War in 1945, Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day or Remembrance Sunday, and observed on the first or second Sunday of November. Since 1956, it was internationally agreed to observe Remembrance Day on the second Sunday of November.
The poppies worn by persons who participate in the Remembrance Day observances are part of the Poppy Appeal launched annually to ensure that those who made the supreme sacrifice in the two great wars, 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945, are remembered.
Unassembled poppies are sent to Guyana by the legion’s fraternal organisations in the UK and Canada, along with the wreaths. The proceeds from the sale of poppies and wreaths are used to bring some relief to veterans and widows of the great wars.
The commemoration date November 11 marks the signing of the Armistice at the end of World War I, which was described as the war to end all wars, but that was not to be. The signing was done at 23:00h on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.
Over 17 million persons  – military and civilian – died in that war. But 21 years later, World War II erupted. Described as the deadliest conflict the world has ever known, over 60 million soldiers and civilians were killed, or 2.5 per cent of the world’s population.
In Guyana, Remembrance Day (Poppy Day) is marked by parades in Georgetown, New Amsterdam, Vreed-en-Hoop, Linden, Anna Regina, Bartica, Lethem and other towns around the country.
After the parade at the Cenotaph in Georgetown on Sunday, the British and Canadian high commissioners and the general secretary of the Guyana Legion placed wreaths in the Military Cemetery in Eve Leary. This was followed by a reception at the legion’s headquarters, Coghlan House.