Remembrance Sunday: The Cenotaph

In 2025 for the first time Lisbon Maru relatives and descendants were invited to attend the National Remembrance Parade at the Cenotaph in London on Sunday 9th November.

On a bright and relatively warm, November morning, members of the Lisbon Maru Memorial Association (LiMMA) marched out of Horse Guards Parade and onto Whitehall. There we formed up with about ten thousand other veterans and associated organisations awaiting our chance to march by the Cenotaph and lay our wreath along with all the others to remember the fallen.

This was a great achievement for LiMMA and we were very excited to be representing all of the men aboard the Lisbon Maru.

A big thank you has to go to LiMMA Steering Group member, Leigh Gray (great niece of Private James Alfred Maynard ), who having come up with the idea, then submitted the successful application.

Please click on the image to enlarge and see all the photos.

Television coverage is available on BBC iPlayer. The LiMMA group can be seen at 2 hours 18 minutes and we even get a mention at 2 hours 20 minutes.

In terms of Order of March the Lisbon Maru Memorial Association were Column R11. Further details can be found on the Royal British Legion website.

We will now receive an annual invitation and as an association, we will endeavour to make this event available to as many members as we can in the future.

For 2026, we have also secured a plot in the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey, where we will be able to plant memorial crosses to remember all our relatives, who were on the Lisbon Maru. As soon as more details are available we will let you know.