EXCLUSIVE: Royal Marine reflects on the ever-changing Gibraltar on Remembrance Day

By

Jacque Talbot

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21 Nov, 2019 @ 15:51


GIBRALTAR has changed a lot according to a former Royal Marine in town to remember the war dead.

But Corporal Pete Wilkins believes the Rock will always be part of the UK family, even with Brexit on the horizon.

The former corporal attended the military parade with other military veterans at the British War Memorial on Line Wall Road.

“It’s a lovely place, always has been,” Wilkins told the Olive Press. “But it’s getting more crowded.

“Every time I come here there’s more buildings, there’s not much you can do now before you go out a bit further.”

“I did three tours here of four months each in the 60s and early 70s,” he explained.

“It’s important because the Royal Marines along with the Dutch Marines took Gibraltar in 1704.”

Looking up at the Mid-Town complex towering over the British war Memorial he said it was ‘nothing like this’ when he first arrived in Gibraltar in 1965.

“It’s progress – you can’t prevent it,” admits the former Royal Marine.

“But there’s only so much land you can build on before you have to fill in the sea!”

Two large reclamations on either side have increased the size of the land area of Gibraltar with another planned for the port area soon.

“The people are still aware of their colonial past,” Wilkins said. “The traditions go back hundreds of years.

“When the dust settles on Brexit, the UK will have its own identity along with Gibraltar within the Union.

“I think the border arrangements will continue after it because although there is a lot of background politics, Gibraltar needs the manpower from Spain to work here.”

Interesting.