Stay away from commenorations

SIR Eric Howells cannot be serious in questioning the attire of the Duchess of Cambridge as his comment of the Passchendaele commemorations. As a lifelong republican I was impressed with the dignified and respectful conduct of the King and Queen of Belgium, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during the commemorations. The question he should be asking is why was Theresa May, Alun Cairns and any other member of the Westminster Government attending the commemorations.

First Minister Carwyn Jones mentioned in a TV interview about the trauma that the surviving soldiers had to live with. My grandfather Hiram Davies DCM, a veteran of the Battle of Mametz Wood, was with the “Rhondda Division” of the Welsh Army who fought the Battle of Pilkem Ridge on July 31, 1917, and fought through the whole campaign and was one of the lucky ones to survive Passchendaele, although like many others never surviving the psychological scars of the battle.

Like hundreds of thousands of veterans my grandfather’s health was very poor after the war and affected his ability to work. However he did have a pension to help him financially until a grateful government decided to take it away from him and hundreds of thousands of Great War veterans. In addition the government abdicated all responsibility for the health and welfare of the brave men who fought in the Great War to charitable organisations. Every government of every persuasion has adopted this cowardly policy since.

Until Westminster Governments take full responsibility for the post conflict care of all military personnel and not defer responsibility to charitable organisations, they cannot be taken seriously in showing respect for the fallen they can only be considered as opportunist hypocrites, and they should stay away from every commemorations because they are not fit to be associated with these great heroic and courageous men.

Illtyd ap Dafydd

Maesteg