MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Blair attends WWII Memorial in Barbados

British Prime Minister Tony Blair took a break from his vacations in Barbados to attend a memorial for veterans World War II.

Blair and his wife, Cherie, sat in the front row alongside Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur during Sunday's outdoor ceremony at an old military base near the capital, Bridgetown. The couple were special guests of the former British colony's government, said Alan Drury, a spokesman with the British High Commission in Barbados.

Blair laid a wreath in honor of fallen soldiers but didn't address the hour-long memorial attended by various diplomats and World War II veterans from Britain and Barbados.

Blair's office confirmed Monday he was vacationing on the Caribbean island, lifting a news blackout on his summer break. The office rarely comments publicly on his vacation destination for security reasons.

Blair left Aug. 6 and his office declined to say when he would return.

In the memorial, British High Commissioner to Barbados John White called the war "the greatest conflict in the history of man." He said the biggest threat to Allied forces in the Caribbean was from German and Italian U-boats that sank some 400 ships.

More than 2,000 men and 85 women from Barbados joined the Allied forces and "fought with distinction in many theaters," White said.