A weekend of reflection for 3 members of the P&DB Steve Vernon, myself and Ian Brown traveled north to Cumbria to attend the funeral of our colleague and friend, the late WO2 Dave Riley RM, who sadly lost his long and hard-fought battle against cancer.
On Behalf of Shirley Riley - Post on FB by former WO2 Jeff Phipps RM (LC).
On the 10th of October, Shirley, family, friends and the Royal Marines Family said a fond farewell to WO2 Dave Riley RM. We all provided Dave with the send-off he most rightly deserved.
Shirley would like to send a huge “Thank You” to those “Bootneck” friends who traveled long distances from around the UK and Europe to attend Dave’s Service, of approximately 250-280 attendees. 250 came to share memories and dits of Dave at his beloved Lancaster Golf Club. Donations received totaled £1800, split between two Charities as Dave’s wishes “Cancer Research UK” £1000 and £800 to the Royal Marines Association.
Stand Easy’ Dave, Duty done, we will all see you at the Final RV.
National Memorial Arboretum
On our return south, we stopped off for a spot of lunch at the National Memorial Arboretum and did the rounds of our Corps memorials. At the Armed Forces Memorial each of us tracked down the names of friends and colleagues lost in service, but who are forever present on the Memorial wall and for me that meant:
Cpl Neil Blain, and WO2 Cliff Williams RM.
RM Memorial - Ian and Steve making the stone look tall...
Commando Memorial
Falklands Memorial
Armed Forces Memorial
A sad occasion John but uplifting to see who and how many are peppered to make the pilgrimage to celebrate the life of a brother.
Well done Dave on your last trip to Cumbria