RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Re­mem­brance Day was com­mem­o­rat­ed in Fyz­abad with solem­ni­ty and rev­er­ence as ex-ser­vice­men, con­tin­gents from the T&T Cadet Corps, and mem­bers of var­i­ous faith-based or­ga­ni­za­tions gath­ered to ho­n­our those who lost their lives in World Wars I and II.

The ac­tiv­i­ties be­gan with a street pa­rade and con­clud­ed with a gun salute.

Uni­formed sen­tries took up their po­si­tion in the rain with ri­fles low­ered for a mo­ment of re­flec­tion on the dev­as­tat­ing im­pact of war.

In at­ten­dance was 97-year-old Mary An­tho­ny, the last known sur­viv­ing war vet­er­an in the South­ern Le­gion, along with Fyz­abad MP Dr Lack­ram Bo­doe and coun­cil­lor Ja­son Ali.

Ma­jor Ran­dal Luces em­pha­sized the im­por­tance of com­mem­o­rat­ing Memo­r­i­al Day and urged cit­i­zens to re­mem­ber the con­se­quences of war.

Luces ac­knowl­edged T&T’s rel­a­tive­ly small glob­al pres­ence but stressed the role of ed­u­ca­tion in end­ing con­flicts do­mes­ti­cal­ly. He said par­ents have to play a greater role in rais­ing chil­dren to be pro­duc­tive, pro­gres­sive cit­i­zens. He em­pha­sised the need for diplo­ma­cy, di­a­logue, and peace­ful res­o­lu­tions.

“Learn­ing from his­to­ry, we should strive to ad­dress con­flict through di­a­logue and un­der­stand­ing. These dev­as­tat­ing con­se­quences of armed con­flict must be avoid­ed,” Ma­jor Luces said.

He high­light­ed the role of ed­u­ca­tion in con­flict res­o­lu­tion and said in­still­ing these skills in chil­dren would con­tribute to a more peace­ful fu­ture.

“Send your chil­dren to school and teach them about con­flict res­o­lu­tion. En­sure that they abide by the rules and have a di­a­logue with their teach­ers. Take your role as a par­ent se­ri­ous­ly and de­vel­op pro­duc­tive, pro­gres­sive cit­i­zens,” he said.

Ma­jor Luces ex­pressed con­cern about on­go­ing ten­sions in Is­rael and Pales­tine, as well as Rus­sia and Ukraine, em­pha­siz­ing the need for di­a­logue to ad­dress con­flicts in T&T.

Oropouche West MP Dave Tan­coo urged cit­i­zens to re­mem­ber the sac­ri­fices made by those who died in the war.

“Those who fought and died for the rights and free­doms that we en­joy to­day, they should nev­er be for­got­ten,” he said.

Rep­re­sen­ta­tives from vil­lage coun­cils in Ack­bar Trace, Thick Vil­lage, Av­o­cat and Pep­per Vil­lage were part of the com­mem­o­ra­tions.