YOU CAN HELP ERSKINE CARE FOR OUR FORCES HEROES
Aged just 18, Frank Coyle joined the Royal Marines and was sent with the Commando Brigade to the Far East where he helped to liberate prisoners of war.
Even now, at 94, Frank remembers the sights that greeted them as they approached the village of Paknam.
“They could hardly walk, it was terrible. You’ve got to see it to really realise how bad it was,” he says, recalling the execution spots around the village and the desperate prisoners still left, barely clinging to life.
“Things like that stick in your mind. When I see graves and white tombstones now, I think about the poor souls that never came back. It’s a blooming shame,” he says.
Were they heroes, these young soldiers?
Frank shrugs: “It was just one of those things in wartime and you just had to get on with what you were told.”
Frank was one of the lucky ones. Despite being injured, he did come back and, today, he lives happily in an Erskine Home – a place where he enjoys the companionship of like-minded people.
He’s lived a long and healthy life but, in these latter years, it’s been important for him to be among others who, like him, have served in the Armed Forces and have seen conflict.
There is a shared and often unspoken understanding about the horrors they have witnessed and the sacrifices their comrades have made.
Erskine looks after nearly 1000 residents each year and personcentred care is tailored to the needs of each individual veteran in its homes.
A fitness fanatic all his life, you name it, Frank has done it: “Boxing, parachuting, swimming, hiking, anything like that,” he says.
Now he enjoys life in an assisted living apartment and still uses the activity centre at Erskine. He also enjoys going out on a tandem with a staff member to stay fit and enjoy the fresh air.
“It’s excellent. I mean, if you look at my flat there, you couldn’t get any better anywhere else,” he says.
“It’s a great organisation, they are all great, the whole lot of them,” he says.
Erskine needs to independently fundraise £10million each year to support veterans in its care and to broaden its service provision so it can adapt to the changing needs of the
Horrors Young Frank served in the Far East ex-service community.
Donations made directly to Erskine make it possible for the veteran’s charity to continue to care and support people like Frank through the next chapter of their lives.
“I’m the last man standing,” says Frank, who alongside his comrades was willing to sacrifice his youth for the sake of his country.
Now Erskine simply ask that we sacrifice a few pounds to make sure veterans such as Frank continue to receive the