“Today we are here first for an act of remembrance to those who, on that day, 20 July, so brutally and tragically lost their lives: Warrant Officer Graham Barker; Sergeant Robert Livingstone; Corporal John McKnight; Bandsman Keith Powell; Bandsman John Heritage; Bandsman George Mesure; Bandsman Laurie Smith.
We also remember the Household Cavalry, so many of whom lost their lives that same day, in service to their country and to their Sovereign.
We are here too to pay a tribute to the survivors, nineteen of whom have already returned to the batallion and, under Bandmaster Warrant Officer Little, have restored the band to its former wonderful performance.
We pay tribute too, to the skill of the doctors and nurses who saw so many of them through their ordeal; so many people here will have so much to thank them for.
And we reaffirm the fundamental principles for which they died. The principles of freedom and justice, without which life has no dignity or meaning. And so, in the words of the hymn:
‘Praise we the wise and brave and strong
Who graced their generation,
Who helped the right and fought the wrong.’These men who were a brotherhood of duty.”