"at the going down of the sun"

"when you go home, tell them of us..."

Some of you may recognise this man and his dog. This is Lance Corporal Liam Tasker and Theo. They made front page news and stole the hearts of the nation after Liam was killed by a sniper in 2011 whilst on tour in Afghanistan. Theo died of a broken heart soon after. Both were returned home together after setting a new record for the number of bomb finds in a single deployment. Good dog! For this, Theo was posthumously awarded the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.

I don't know if it's the history geek in me, or just because I was brought up to respect the sacrifice given by all those who have, and still are dying for my freedom, but when I found out Liam was from Fife and was to be buried across the bridge in Tayport, I had this urge to one day visit his grave and pay my respects to a war hero. So in September last year, my parents and I travelled across to find him, and he wasn't that difficult to spot - a military grave stone with an artificial floral arrangement on the top in the shape of a paw print :)

At the military attended Remembrance parade in Dundee today I learnt to my disadvantage that pigeons like to provide their own version of a 21 gun salute as a mark of respect :( Cue a lovely RAF woman with a baby wipe to help clean me up!

But during the 2 minute silence, Liam and Theo weren't far from my thoughts...

"for your tomorrow, we gave our today...."

# Ode to Remembrance - Laurence Binyon #