As the Service of Remembrance stands silent at the 11th hour this Sunday at the Cenotaph, two people will be shouting as loud as possible.
L-R: Lieutenant Thompson and Captain Keddie.
Every year, at the Service of Remembrance in London the two minute’s silence is conducted with military precision. On Horse Guards Parade, the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery fire their First World War guns to mark the start of the silence, and on Whitehall a Corps of Army Music bugler from the Household Division marks its end at precisely the same time that the guns fire again, 120 seconds later.
But how do they know when to do it? Big Ben stands around the corner and therefore out of sight. To react to the first strike of the Big Ben bell as it chimes at 11 o’clock would be a moment too late.
Remembrance Sunday the unit will come to London and two signallers from the 251 Signal Squadron, 10th Signal Regiment will spend the morning at the top of the Elizabeth Tower – home to Big Ben - in the Palace of Westminster. They have the critical task of controlling everything that happens on the ground from inside one of the clock faces of the tower itself.
This year the task falls to Captain Keddie and Lieutenant Thompson. Standing next to the mechanism of the most famous clock in the world, as the cogs turn and the escapement whirrs into action Captain Keddie will raise a white-gloved hand and motion a countdown with her fingers while Lieutenant Thompson shouts the orders down his radio to the troops on the ground in Horse Guards Parade: “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!”
Lieutenant Thompson admits it can be nerve-wracking:
“It’s an honour to be involved but we have to get it right first time. The silence is such an important time for the nation. Although we’re the only people in the country who won’t be silent during those two minutes you can feel the silence up there from across London. It’s amazing to feel such a part of history”
