Kent students guard Torch of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey

Students from the Duke of York’s Royal Military School (DYRMS), in Dover, provided an Honour Guard and Bugle Major for the Torch of Remembrance Service at Westminster Abbey on 7 November, followed by a wreath laying at Dover Marine Station on 8 November. They were joined by three American exchange students from Valley Forge Military Academy.

The students were specially selected to provide the Reveille bugle call and guard the Torch, which is annually lit at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior during a ceremony in memory of the British soldiers who died in the First World War.

In attendance at Westminster Abbey were Col. The Hon. Peter Trustrum Eve, President of the British Torch of Remembrance, The Right Reverend Dr John Hall The Dean of Westminster Abbey and Secretary of State for Defence Philip Hammond MP (the Schools sponsor) who met and thanked to the students.

The student guards also took part in a wreath laying ceremony when the Torch travelled back to Dover Marine Station en route to the battlefields of Belgium.

Charles Johnson, Academy Principal, said: “We are very proud of our students who have been invited to take part in the national Remembrance ceremonies. It is an extremely important occasion for our school, which has a proud Military tradition close to the hearts of our students and parents in the Armed Forces.

The school also held a remembrance service in its Chapel this week to remember those who have fallen in action, including hundreds of former pupils.

The DYRMS student guards were 17-year-olds Senior Under Officer Will Travers; Junior Under Officer Chandra Sundas; Junior Under Officer Charlotte Costellow; Junior Under Officer Laura Smith;

Buglers - Junior Under Officer Edward Jolliffe, and Matthew Hurst, aged 18.

The Valley Forge Military Academy students were:

Max Ruvinov, 16, Ben Yoshikawa, 17, and Asa Unger, 16.