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Saturday, June 28, 2008, 07:00
National Veterans Day was launched in 2006 – to be held annually on June 27 – but in Plymouth it has already grown into a weekend full of events.
As the Lord Mayor officially opened the Veterans Centre yesterday morning, the regimental standards and the elderly men in berets with medals pinned to their blazers would have been familiar to many.
But Veterans Day is providing an outlet to many more, younger veterans as well, and many of them could be found manning stalls in the Guildhall.
Stuart Warner, a welfare officer with the British Limbless Ex Servicemen's Association (BLESMA), who was seriously injured during a last-minute exercise before the Falklands War, said: “We've got to do our bit to try to raise the profile of our armed forces.
“We are in some difficult situations at the present time, in Afghanistan and Iraq, and I think we need more support from the general public. We need to talk about it more.”
Mr Warner described the Afghan theatre as “really rough,” and said BLESMA's members were getting younger.
But he said when servicemen and women came home, people were unwilling to talk to them about their experiences, unlike past conflicts when those returning were treated as heroes in their local pubs.
It was a view echoed by many at the Veteran's Centre.
Bob Perchard, president of the Plymouth branch of the Malaya and Borneo Veterans Association, said: “It's another forgotten war. A lot of National Servicemen died and nobody knows about it.”
Formed in 1998 for members of all armed forces who served in Malaya, Borneo, Brunei and Singapore during the long years of British led counter-insurgency, the association is in many ways a very modern organisation, supporting the Gurkhas who fought alongside them and even sponsoring an orangutan in the Borneo jungle.
They meet once a month and new members are welcome.
Richard Bendell BEM, of the Royal Marines Association, pointed to the camaraderie of old warriors to explain why ex-service associations flourish.
“When you serve alongside someone you get to know them and depend on them,” he said.
Or to put it another way, “once a Marine, always a Marine.”
Few will have given as much to their country as 88-year-old Garth Wright. He was in the Territorial Army – this year celebrating its centenary – and joined the Tavistock Battery, Royal Artillery, on the first day of the war in 1939.
Aged just 19, he was sent to France with the BEF, survived Dunkirk and manned anti-aircraft guns during the London blitz before landing in North Africa and fighting his way up Italy to Monte Cassino, this time on mortars. He was demobbed from Italy at the end of the war.
Mr Wright, who has kept the Plymouth Veterans of Dunkirk group going despite dwindling membership, said he was looking forward to the Veterans Day events but the remembrance service on the Hoe would always have special meaning to him. He joined up with two other young men from his village, but was the only one to survive the war.
Veterans include former members of the armed forces as well as a few other groups, such as merchant mariners, who have seen duty in military operations. But others are tagging on to the celebrations and with good reason.
Winnie Parsons and Thelma Bennett, both 83, were manning a stand dedicated to women who, like them, worked in the dockyard during the Second World War.
Mrs Parsons said: “We like to think we're part of the services after working in the dockyard all these years.
“We were never recognised – but I've tried to keep it alive anyway.”
The Veterans Centre will be open today between 9am and 4pm.
From 8pm, a Veterans Day concert will take place at St Andrew's Church with the band of the Royal Air Force Association. Tickets (£3 for adults with children under 16 free) will be available on the door.
On Sunday a whole day of activities will take place on Plymouth Hoe from 10.30am.
A series of displays and exhibitions will be staged with the backdrop of warships in the Sound and aircraft in the sky.
Historic military vehicles and helicopter and parachute displays are also planned.
Musical accompaniment will be provided by The Rifles and the City of Plymouth Pipe Band.
The RAF and Allied Air Forces Monument service will take place from 11.30am.
An hour-long Veterans Day Tattoo will be held from 4.30pm and a parade of the Federation of Plymouth and District Ex-Services Association standards and Royal British Legion standards will then be held until 5.30pm.
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CELEBRATION AND COMMEMORATION: Service personnel past and present and their civilian supporters at the Veterans Day service at St Andrew's Church
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