‘It is always important to salute armed forces’
IAM so proud to be the Armed Forces Champion for the city. It is a great honour to support our armed forces personnel, past and present. They all deserve our help for everything that they have sacrificed for our country.
Stoke-on-trent has many, many, heroes. Most of us will be related or know someone that has bravely served in the armed forces.
Sadly, many will have lost their lives during conflict but there are also many who returned home who will never forget the scars of battle and lived to tell the tale.
My dear father Tom and his brothers all served their time in various regiments, and all had tales to tell at family gatherings.
I suspect they never told us just how much suffering they had to endure in those dark days. They always made light of their times in the forces.
This April has seen the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War, one of Britain’s largest military operations since the Second World War. After 74 days of hard fighting, British troops forced the Argentine forces to surrender.
During the conflict, 255 British military personnel lost their lives, of whom 86 were Royal Navy, 123 Army, 27 Royal Marines, six Merchant Navy, four Royal Fleet Auxiliary, one Royal Artillery and eight Hong Kong sailors.
Their names are inscribed on the Armed Forces Memorial at the arboretum. A special display of flags will honour those lost in the Falklands conflict at the Armed Forces Celebration Day.
I was recently contacted by the grandson of the Screen family that originated from Hanley. He told me of the amazing story of seven brothers and their father who were all serving in the forces at the same time,
in various regiments during the Second World War.
Thankfully, they all returned home from the war and went on to enjoy their lives in their chosen professions.
How thankful must their family have been to see them all return home?
We are looking to install a roll of honour memorial board at the Civic Centre to commemorate our Stoke-on-trent War heroes.
It will take time to compile the list but with the help of local families, who are able to share their family history and our local historians, I am sure names will soon be added.
We already have some names from our street naming project which commemorated the centenary of the First World War but we will be including heroes from all conflicts.
The criteria for the nominations is still in the planning stage.
On February 1, Stoke-on-trent City Council reaffirmed its commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, which is a promise to those who serve or have served in the armed forces and, of course their families, that they should always be treated with fairness and respect.
We are now in the process of applying for Silver revalidation, and once this has been completed we will continue to work towards Gold in 2023.
Local businesses are invited to show their support for our veterans by signing up to the Armed Forces Covenant.
Signing means that you are supporting your employees as reservists and veterans.
By becoming a forces friendly employer you could benefit from the wide range of skills and experiences that reservists and veterans can bring to your organisation.
There is so much that we have already pledged to do for the armed forces community, including encouraging local businesses to help with recruitment and local medical centres to become veteranfriendly accredited.
We support housing and employment needs and signpost support from many military organisations, including Ssafa, Tri Services, RBL, Help for Heroes and many more. Many veterans need help, and we must always do our best to see that they get the right help from the right people, whatever their needs.
On Sunday, I am pleased to say that the Armed Forces Celebration Day will be returning to Queens Park in Longton.
It is a wonderful opportunity for everyone to give thanks to our armed forces personnel, past and present. Sadly, for the past two years the event had to be cancelled due to the pandemic but hopefully the 2022 event will be even bigger and better.
The event will start at 1pm with the full military parade taking place at 2pm, followed by the Drumhead Service and an afternoon of family fun and musical entertainment around the park.
Families of loved ones lost in battle are always invited to wear their medals and take part in the parade.
Let’s all make a pledge to look after our veterans and give thanks for all they have done and continue to do for us.