Remembrance Day 2025 observed in war graves section of Bulgaria’s Sofia Central Cemetery
Remembrance Day 2025 was observed on November 11 at the Commonwealth, German, Italian and French sections of the war graves in Sofia Central Cemetery in Bulgaria’s capital city.
At the respective sections, there were addresses by the ambassadors – the UK’s Nathaniel Copsey, Germany’s Irene Plank, Italy’s Marcello Apicella and and France’s Marie Dumoulin. The service at the Commonwealth section included the reading by Irish ambassador Catherine Bannon of Katharine Tynan’s poem Joining the Colours. There were stirring renditions of When the Battles O’er, and The Fluuers o the Forest, by piper Peter Harvie, formerly of The Scots Guards.
Remembrance Day is marked on the anniversary of the Armistice at the close of the First World War, and in modern practice, not only commemorates the dead of the wars of the 20th century, but also is held in a spirit of reconciliation and desire for peace.
At the Commonwealth War Graves section, Father Patrick Irwin led the religious service, while George Dean, seven, delivered the Exhortation:
They shall grow not old
As we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them
nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun,
and in the morning
we will remember them.
Participants in the wreath-laying included foreign ambassadors from the Commonwealth, European and countries around the world, European Union and Nato institutions, as well as the Bulgarian Armed Forces and representatives of the British, South African and Canadian Legions of Military Veterans. Among those present at the ceremony was Bulgaria’s Chief of Defence, Admiral Emil Eftimov.
(Photos: The Sofia Globe)
