At 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, we came together in Pontypool to fall silent and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy today.

I know we all think - in particular - of those we know and love who have served, and those local heroes who have fallen in the course of their service.

Thank you to all those who were involved on Friday and on Remembrance Sunday. I am always humbled by the example of volunteers for organisations like the Royal British Legion’s local branches, Comrades Club and the Cwmbran and District Ex-Service Association (CADESA), who raise funds to help veterans and keep the flame of remembrance alive in our communities.

Across Torfaen, we are rightly proud of our links to the armed forces community.

So many people I met over the weekend talked about their own family links, and the special reasons they mark the occasion.

The memory of those who fought and died for our country must never be forgotten. We must never take peace for granted or forget the horrors of warfare, especially in a year where war in Europe has again been an awful reality.

Memories of the Second World War were the topic of conversation at another event I attended this month in Abersychan.

In the build-up to D-Day, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion was posted to Abersychan. They received great hospitality from Trinity Methodist Church where they stayed, and the wider reception from the community is something of local legend.

The 320th was a black battalion in the then-segregated US Army.

The unequal, racist treatment they received back home was scandalous, including being denied any recognition for their courage, such as the Medal of Honour, despite numerous acts of huge bravery.

Yet in Abersychan, they found a very different response, leading one soldier to comment that Abersychan was like ‘paradise on earth’.

It was therefore an honour to visit Trinity Methodist Church to mark Black History Month, to view the plaque erected in the battalion’s memory, and to speak to the congregation, including some descendants of the soldiers.

Theirs too is a memory we must never forget, as we commemorate all those who have served.