The ceremony at Westminster Abbey which marked the passing of the First World War generation

Yesterday’s national service marking the passing of the World War I generation was much more than that: it was a pledge from so many who couldn’t remember that from this day on, they would never forget.

And among guests in Westminster Abbey, where we especially honoured the last three veterans who all died this year, were hundreds from across the country and all walks of life whose fathers, grandfathers and uncles had fought and died in the Great War.

It was touching to see so many proudly wearing medals awarded to their brave forefathers. They included Anne Davidson, daughter of Chief Petty Officer William Stone, one of the three remaining veterans in this country who died this year at 108. Yesterday she stood alongside the Queen to read from Genesis.

After the service Anne talked proudly of her father’s belief that wars, their casualties and their survivors, should always be remembered. And that young people should also hear of the stories and the sacrifices.

There is, of course, still one British veteran alive, but he has lived in Australia for the past 80 years.

For one of Shropshire’s representatives at yesterday’s service, former mayor of Shrewsbury and Atcham Ted Butcher, it was an especially emotional moment as he wore his father’s medals for the very first time.

He said: “My father was born in 1896 and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps as a private and served as an 18-year-old.

“He got a medal for being in France in 1915 and when I knew we might come to the service, I wanted to try and find out more.

“So my wife and I went to Kew where many records had been kept, only to find the two-thirds of them, including his, had been destroyed during the Second World War.

“But as a child of a former soldier you are entitled to wear your father’s medals, so that’s what I did today, I had never seen them worn before. The whole day was wonderful, an experience which I don’t think will ever be repeated.”

Others at the Abbey yesterday were John Whitfield, wearing his father’s Victoria Cross, former Shrewsbury coroner David Crawford Clarke, whose father and uncle both served in the Great War, Richard Dodwell, whose father Thomas was awarded the DSO, Lt Col Stephen Caney, whose grandfather was killed in the war while fighting in France, John Clayton, whose great uncle was killed in a 1918 mid-air collision, and John Benstead-Smith, whose grandfather was awarded a number of medals for World War 1 service and mentioned in Dispatches.

Special report from Shirley Tart at the memorial service at Westminster Abbey