After the band passed from view in the video I noted the marchers behind them were what looked like fifty or so men in suits and ties and bowler hats and each carrying an umbrella. Behind them were companies or platoons of ordinary looking old guys in suites without the hats or umbrella. All of the veterans of either hat and umbrella group or the others all had their medals in rows upon their chest. I wondered about the hats and umbrellas. I found this on facebook.
Nothing like style and tradition in military pride.... In America we mostly skip the parades and instead remember catchy lines from movies, like where John Wayne says to the young lieutenant .." Never apologize Mister. It's a sign of weakness". It all amounts to...about.... the same thing... I guess. The parade shows some effort at least to get into the spirit of the thing though.Have you ever wondered why officers, when wearing suit and bowler hat, always carry an umbrella but never seem to use it?
That's because the tradition is to have an umbrella but not open it unless in the presence of a lady to protect them from the rain.
During the siege of Bayonne, Grenadier Guards raised their brollies against the rain – only to be told off by their commander, the Duke of Wellington. The Duke’s own umbrella was made of oiled cloth and hid a sword stick.
At the Battle of Waterloo, a French commander called the British officers, ‘les efféminés avec leurs parapluies’ (effeminates with their umbrellas). These 'effeminates' – with their dry uniforms – went on to defeat him.
