Hundreds gathered at the National War Memorial in St. John’s this morning for the annual July 1st Memorial Day ceremony.

The service dates back to July 1, 1917 to honour and mourn the loss of more than 700 soldiers of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont-Hamel on the first day of the Battle of the Somme during World War One.

Special guests today included Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, whose parents are from Newfoundland, as well as Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre.

NTV News covered the ceremony live. This will be the last year that the ceremony will take place at the War Memorial before it is refurbished. The province has already put out tenders for renovations to the site. The province will also put in place a specially-designed tomb for the remains of one of our unknown soldiers from WW1, whose remains were discovered on the battlefield of Northern France.