Cold War Veterans Blog

Uk Vets Continue Fight for Proper Recognition

This is a update on UK Veterans fight for a National Defence Medal.

The Forgotten Many Who Served With Honour
Wednesday, June 25, 2008



In 2006 the Government of the day instituted Veterans Day to be on the 27th of June, and annually thereafter. The Defence Secretary on the MoD website writes; “ We firmly believe that we owe our veterans- wherever they served in peacetime or a conflict, whether overseas or in the UK- a debt of gratitude. All have contributed; all have made sacrifices; all have helped to lay the foundations of the prosperous society we enjoy today.”



We believed, that at long last, we the ‘forgotten many’ were being recognised when the Secretary of State for Defence said; “Today is the first ever Veterans Day, it offers a unique chance to honour and express our gratitude to all those who have served our country as members of the British Armed Forces. There are many thousands of veterans among us, we should be proud of them.”



We commenced our campaign for a National Defence Medal in September 2007 feeling let down by the politicians’ rhetoric and lack of real resolve for proper recognition.



The Government has presented veterans with the vaunted Veterans Badge and have lauded the success of this form of recognition from city to village. The campaigners for the National Defence Medal believe that this was a step in the right direction. However the badge is designed for informal every day wear and is not suitable for any formal military occasion. We believe that a National Defence Medal in line with the Australian Defence Medal would be much better, though the MOD have said they do not feel any obligation to follow.



Veterans, regular, short service and national service who served with the BAOR, occupied Korea after the armistice and in other theatres worldwide throughout the cold war, remain unrecognised, unlike our NATO allies. Indeed the December 2007 edition of the Soldier Magazine in the letter column discussing medals indicated that 75% of the readership believed National Service should have been recognised with a medal. We believe that the plethora of commemorative medals or ‘bling’ is as a direct result of an unstructured and unfair medals policy.



We hope that as a visitor to our website you will understand the genuine sense of grievance held by service personnel who served their country with honour and fidelity yet have nothing to show for it. As you will ascertain there is considerable political support and some letters are extremely emotive.



Our campaign response is quite simple and addressed directly both to the current CDS and Secretary of State for Defence; “ Gentlemen, rectify this situation forthwith. Do not merely utter platitudes.”