Saturday saw the commemorations for the 70th anniversary of VJ Day, when the Second World War finally came to an end. Through my own lifetime I have observed the 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of major milestones from WWII such as D-Day, VE Day and VJ Day. What has made the 70th anniversaries even more poignant is that very sadly, our veterans with the first-hand accounts of WWII are becoming much fewer in number with most now in their nineties.
Hearing first-hand accounts of the horrors and atrocities committed, as well as of the bravery shown in WWII are very powerful and help to remind us that the world should do everything possible to avoid conflict on such a huge and terrible scale again. Seventy years has not diminished the high esteem our WWII veterans are held in by the nation and if anything, they are more cherished than ever in the public consciousness as time progresses.
There have of course been conflicts since WWII where British people have served their country, many of whom have paid the ultimate price of losing their life or who have come back with life-changing injuries. We should also not forget the emotional scars and mental health of these veterans, some of whom will have witnessed the most awful of things.
There was a point, probably about a decade ago, when we recognised as a country, that we could be doing more for our veterans, especially as some have difficulties after having served their country in more recent conflicts. One such example is the greater rate of homelessness among veterans than the general population.
I welcome the political consensus in recent years to do more for our veterans as well as to strengthen Crawley’s links with the Armed Forces. Locally in 2013, both Crawley Borough and West Sussex County Council signed the Community Covenant between the community and the Armed Forces, and we have also done other positive things such as giving increased priority to veterans for the allocation of Council housing and both Councils introduced the Veterans’ Guaranteed Interview Scheme for job vacancies.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
19th August 2015