Pres­i­dent Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo yes­ter­day laid the first wreath at the Re­mem­brance Day ob­ser­vance at Memo­r­i­al Park, a day af­ter urg­ing teenagers at a mock UN meet­ing to strive for peace in the re­gion.

While her wreath fell along with the easel it was placed on, the mem­o­ries of the fall­en were lift­ed as Chief Jus­tice Ron­nie Boodoos­ingh, At­tor­ney Gen­er­al John Je­re­mie, SC, and De­fence Min­is­ter Wayne Sturge paid trib­ute.

Al­so ho­n­our­ing the fall­en were Chief of De­fence Staff Don Po­lo, Port-of-Spain May­or Chin­ua Al­lyene, and mem­bers of the diplo­mat­ic corps.

Re­mem­brance Day and the wreath-lay­ing cer­e­mo­ny, held an­nu­al­ly, ho­n­our those who served and died dur­ing World Wars I and II (1914–18 and 1939–45).

Mem­bers of the Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty ser­vices, all wear­ing red pop­pies—a sym­bol of re­mem­brance—salut­ed, fired canons, and raised their swords in ho­n­our of the fall­en.

In to­tal, 18 wreaths were laid at the ceno­taph at Memo­r­i­al Park. Un­like last year, there was no pro­ces­sion for the fall­en.

No­tably ab­sent were Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les, Home­land Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Roger Alexan­der, and Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Al­lis­ter Gue­var­ro.