I feel worthless, war widow tells Boris in row over lost pension
EXCLUSIVE
A WAR widow, who lost her pension after she found love again, has written an open letter to the Prime Minister saying: “I feel worthless and forgotten.”
Rose Frost had been married for 25 years when her husband Major Bob Turnbull, 49, was killed in a paragliding accident in Bavaria in 2000.
He had been on adventure course.
But the mother of two not only lost her husband that night, she also lost her home and her Army job – and when she married Ed Frost six years an Army later, she also lost her meagre war widow’s pension.
The Daily Express and the War Widows’ Association are campaigning to change the law that means she and up to 300 others who remarried had to give up their pension worth up to £7,500 a year.
In her letter to Boris Johnson, Rose, from Blandford Forum, Dorset, said: “In that dreadful night after I heard Bob had been killed, I couldn’t sleep. But it was fear as much as grief that kept me awake.
“For not only had we lost a husband and a father, but we also had to vacate our married quarters within 90 days. Fast forward six years to a much happier time in 2006 when I met and married my second husband Ed Frost. I wrote to tell the powers that be that I was getting married and knew I would have to give up my war widows pension.
“I had a letter back saying that as I was to be married on December 28, they would not pay any pension for December as they could not overpay me for the extra three days at the end of the month. I felt insulted, to say the least.
“In 2015, after a long campaign by the War Widows’ Association and others, our government changed the rules so that War Widows no longer had to give up their pensions on remarriage.
“Alas, this was not retrospective, so the only way I could now reclaim my pension is if my husband and I divorce or he dies.As a war widow denied her pension it feels as if my quarter of a century of contributions to the smooth running of Army life is now worthless and forgotten.
“I am approaching my 70s now, how much longer must we forgotten war widows wait for someone of courage, resolve and integrity in government to stand up for us and ensure justice, fairness, respect and above all else speedy action?”