The silence was marked by the firing of Castle Cornet’s cannon by local Royal British Legion president Major Eric Le Quesne, right, pictured with historic sites warden Keith Pike. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0871036)

TRAFFIC stood still in St Peter Port yesterday as a cannon fired and sirens sounded to mark the two-minute silence on Armistice Day.

Royal British Legion president Major Eric Le Quesne fired the gun at Castle Cornet alongside regular noonday firer Keith Pike, who was dressed in a Royal Guernsey Militia uniform.

The silence observed around the island marked the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month – the precise anniversary of the end of the First World War.

Major Le Quesne said the occasion this year was even more poignant because of the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan – 233 have died since the conflict began in 2001.

He said seeing the cortege drive through Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, carrying the bodies of six soldiers who had died in Afghanistan just over a week ago had brought a lump to his throat.

‘We are coming up to Christmas and those families will have a son missing. That’s where it hits home. Some of them were in their 20s,’ he said.