Is it wrong to call ex-servicemen ‘veterans’?

SIR – My dictionary defines veteran –a term Dermot Boyle dislikes (Letters, November 14) – as a person or object with long experience or employment in a particular field, or as an exmember of the Armed Forces.

Having served in the Army for 24 years, I have no objection to being called a veteran.

What I do find patronising, though, is being referred to as one of our brave boys. David Butcher

Andover, Hampshire

SIR – I have long balked at the term veteran. Worse still is to refer to a former soldier as ex.

As a younger officer, I much preferred the term old comrades. Now, however, as I approach 70, I’m not so sure.

Lt Col Ian Sawers (retd) Shrewsbury

SIR – Although I possess (and on occasions such as Remembrance Sunday wear) a Veteran badge (Letters, November 15), I find it amusing that, having spent two entirely peaceful years in the RAF, I am entitled to be so called. Thomas Hartney

Wem, Shropshire

SIR – My late father identified my 40th birthday as the day he began to feel old. I had told him that I was eligible to enter a veterans’ tennis tournament. John Curran

Bristol

SIR – Having two years ago bought a signed copy of his quite splendid 1999 memoirs, I was delighted to note that my – and doubtless very many other grateful cadets’ – mentor at Mons, Major Peter Horsfall (retd), is very much alive and on the button regarding regimental regulations (Letters, November 10).

Equally, however, I am pleased that Captain Prince Henry of Wales did not shave before parading on Remembrance Sunday. A tradition of elegantly bearded royalty, whether in plain clothes or uniform, dates back to the 19th century. I hope it continues. H S Blagg

Colston, Nottinghamnshire