The Cenotaph Parade

[Tab]

Now just out of interest do any of you watch the Cenotaph Service on Television then the march past. Have any of you noticed just what unit is last in the parade. Well I will tell you it is London Transport strange but true, now how did they get this honour. Well during WW1 the British Army had little or no decent motorised transport for moving troops around so some bright spark in Whitehall looked out of his window and saw all these buses running around doing a grand job so about a thousand of them were pressed into service from the very early days of the war. As driving one of these buses took a bit more skill than a horse and cart the Army asked the drivers if they would go with buses which they did. They remained civilians under military control at the end war the efforts had been such that George the V personally ordered the survivors to Parade and presented each one with his medals. Also as they had served all through the war the Bus men of London were given the right to join the march past at the Cenotaph. In 1947 London Underground asked if they could march with the London Bus men to honour the fallen colleagues and the Bus men agreed and they did this every year up to 1993. This was the year that London Buses was sold off back in to Private ownership. Now the odd part about about this is London Transport has Kept hold of the Honour of marching past the Cenotaph just for the Underground and the Bus men are Banned from an honour that was awarded to their forbears, funny how history gets twisted.

[anglo-saxon]

Tab, send Blakey...He'll sort 'em aht!