REMEMBRANCE Sunday has come round again and people will be holding an unofficial two minute silence for the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives for their country.

Already a memorial garden has been placed in St George's Shopping Centre in Preston and veterans from all over the North West went along to show their respects bearing standards from local units of the armed forces, many of which have long been disbanded or amalgamated.

On Sunday from 10am, they will parade again and lead the Mayor and civic dignitaries to a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in Preston town centre, and also in Leyland at the memorial on Church Road opposite the Parish Church.

Among the old soldiers will be veteran Ron Yates who fought in the WWII, and is currently recovering from a heart bypass operation.

He said he would be proud to take part in the march and despite his ill health, refused any suggestion that he be better off in a wheelchair: "Not until I'm 90" said the sprightly 75-year-old.

But attending the Preston event is easy compared to the ceremony he usually goes to on the Greek Island of Chios in the last week of September.

"I have been there to lay a poppy wreath every year for 12 years," he said: "But I couldn't make it this time because of my health." Ron lays a wreath in remembrance of to the Greek hero Lt Ianson Kalambokas who chose to die in conflict rather than be taken prisoner.

"I was with the HQ Raiding Forces in the Aegean. We were involved in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the Greeks sent us information by radio from the island even when it was occupied by German forces.

"They gave us information to find vital enemy positions and we were able to get many troops out to Turkey and across to Palestine with their help.

Although outnumbered 100 to one, Raiding Forces inflicted 4,131 known casualties on the enemy, killing 288; wounding 119 and taking 3,724. They suffered 103 casualties (63 Greeks and 40 British) comprising 29 killed, 35 wounded and 39 taken prisoner.

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