A minute’s silence was held today in countries across the Commonwealth for Remembrance Day, and western suburbs veterans have shared how important it is to keep this tradition alive.

Swanbourne locals Andrew Tabain and John Burridge are both members of the Claremont RSL. They previously served for Australia and are now committed to supporting fellow veterans and families.

A 2026 Remembrance Day service was held this morning at the Claremont War Memorial.

Services were also held across WA, including at the war cemetery in Karrakatta, Rankin Gardens in Subiaco and a large service at the Kings Park State War Memorial.

The Claremont RSL and the town worked together to organise the Claremont service, holding a minute’s silence at 11am to reflect on lives lost in service.

“It’s very, very important that we don’t forget our forefathers that went off to the Boer War, World War I, World War II, and massive sacrifices this country gave,” Mr Tabain said.

“Not just all those that lost their lives and fought, but the partners, the wives, the children suffered a lot. It affected pretty much the whole world, Australia and WA in particular. So many people went into the war.”

Mr Tabain joined the Australian Regular Army and Signals when he was 17, going on to serve for 40 years at postings around the world.

He left as a warrant officer four years ago and joined the RSL immediately.

“If you’re going to leave the full-time services, it’s good to still have a connection. I think the RSL is a direct link still, and it’s where you can talk to mates and new friends that have been ex-Defence Force, but it’s also a place to get help and give help as well,” he said.

Western suburbs locals also displayed strong fundraising support in the lead up to Remembrance Day, with Scotch College students selling poppies at Claremont train station and volunteers selling poppies at Claremont Quarter.

“It’s very important that we hold the Remembrance Day service and it’s good that local schools here in the western suburbs do support fundraising,” Mr Tabain said.

“I haven’t seen it anywhere else in Australia, the amount of interest from the children going to the Men’s Shed, getting little wooden crosses, putting them at the cemetery war graves.”

Mr Burridge commemorates Australia’s war history in his own way, having run Swanbourne’s Military Antiques store for 43 years.

He began the business after returning from the Vietnam War in 1970 and swiftly gained a reputation as one of the country’s leading dealers in military collectables and history.

An avid coin collector since he was six years old, Mr Burridge said his great-uncle — who served in WWI — encouraged him to start collecting military memorabilia.

“I found it a lot more interesting than stamps and coins, and I thought there’s real history here,” he said.

“I have a terrific amount of medals. I’m very keen on collecting anything to do with Western Australia ... I’ve got Mrs Dance’s brooch. She’s the woman that dropped the tree down for the founding of Perth, and she’s using her husband’s naval general service medal as part of the brooch. I’ve got (Colonel John) Bruce’s medals, he owned Nedlands.

“There’s an awful lot of ignorance out there. In a perfect world, I’d like to do a museum. I’ve certainly got the gear, and very scarce material too.”

As well as collecting, Mr Burridge does a significant amount of medal mounting, securing military or service medals onto a brooch bar or rigid backing so they can be worn as a group. He said there was also a strong demand for making replica medals.

Mr Burridge comes from a long line of veterans. His grandfather and great-uncles served in World War I, and his father was a commander in Timor during World War II.

His son David also served in Timor and Iraq.

Mr Burridge himself served as a national serviceman in the 5th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment from 1968 to 1870, and said days such as Remembrance Day were important to honour those who fought.

“I’m very strong on remembering the guys that paid the ultimate sacrifice,” he said.

“I’m very involved with legacy, I’ve been involved for over 50 years ... my small company lost 10 blokes and had 60-odd wounded. But it was basically helicopters that saved the lives of a number of those guys — if they’d have been World War II guys, they never would have made it.

“All you’ve experienced, it becomes a bit more special.”