Representatives of the armed forces in Scotland stood alongside veterans and invited guests to mark the service and sacrifice of Scots who lost their lives in armed conflicts over the past century.

An intimate Armistice Day Service was held at the Scottish National War Memorial in Edinburgh Castle, with those in attendance falling silent on ‘the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month’ – which traditionally marks the end of fighting on the Western Front at the end of World War I.

Serving soldiers and officers from HQ 51 Infantry Brigade and HQ Scotland and members of Balaklava Coy, 5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland and 105 Regiment Royal Artillery represented Scots soldiers and regiments, with the latter providing the firing party marking the two-minute silence.

The Band of His Majesty’s Royal Marines Scotland delivered a lament, performed by a solo piper from the City of Edinburgh University Officer Training Corp, Officer Cadet Felix Walker and Bugler Marine Michael Horn of The Band of His Majesty’s Royal Marines a haunting ‘Lost Post’.

Brigadier Jody Davies MBE, Commander 51 Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland read the moving piece ‘He is Gone’, from an unknown author, while Corporal Megan Reid a poignant extract from ‘His Mate’ by Revd G A Studdert-Kennedy MC:

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“All that week I’d buried brothers,

In one bitter battle slain,

In one grave I laid two hundred.

God! What sorrow and what rain!

And that night I’d been in trenches,

Seeking out the sodden dead,

And just dropping them in shell-holes,

With a service swiftly said.”

Principal wreath layers were Brigadier Andy Muddiman ADC, Royal Marines, the Governor of Edinburgh Castle, Major General Bob Bruce CBE DSO, Air Officer Scotland Air Commodore Bill Gibson MBE ADC and Canadian Army Exchange Officer, Captain Mackenzie Savill.

Representatives of the Canadian armed forces receive an invite to the commemorations every year, in recognition of the close cooperation between Scotland and Canada, particularly during WW1 and WW2.

Maintained by an independent charity, the Scottish National War Memorial was unveiled in the aftermath of WW1 where one in five of the Scots who fought did not return. The memorial houses the Rolls of Honour for Scotland’s war dead from WW1 to the present day, including more recent conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Around 3500 people also attended Glasgow’s Remembrance Service in George Square on Sunday, November 10.

The service is recognised as the second largest Remembrance Parade in the UK and this year personnel from HM Naval Base Clyde and HMS Glasgow provided the Guard of Honour.