‘I feel honour-bound to support him’ – Mail readers back Sgt Blackman

‘I lived through the Blitz and the horrors inflicted by the Nazis on innocent people, but the Taliban and now ISIS are as bad, if not worse. If they capture any of our soldiers, they torture them in the most sickening of ways. Faced with that, he was facing unimaginable stress.’ Wolf Cohen, 92, RAF World War

Two veteran, donated £50. ‘If you are fighting, then you will end up shooting. And if you make a mistake like this, you get a rap on the knuckles – you do not get a life sentence.’

Faith Joynson, 85, from Cheshire, who donated £20 with her husband, former Army

Major James Joynson.

‘Having shot and killed the enemy at close quarters on the battlefield, I feel honour-bound to support Sgt Blackman.’ Ex-military man Dave Pearcy,

from Hereford, donated £25 ‘I have served many, many years ago and it angers me to think that any charge would even have been considered.’ Martin Scraggs who donated £10 ‘It is hard to think about the immense pressures these servicemen are under. We should be praising them for their bravery.’ Ex-national serviceman Ian Holloway, 76, from Uxbridge, Middlesex, who donated £25. ‘Although I have not experienced the horrors faced by our troops in Helmand, I have seen for myself the ignorance of chair-bound politicians and commanders.’ Alastair King, 85, served in the

RAF for 14 years ‘Sgt Blackman did what I, and any other professional soldier would and should have done - to put a dog out of its misery.’ Former serviceman Paul White, who lives in Wakefield and served in Northern Ireland. ‘As for shooting a wounded Taliban, that’s what we are taught to do. In the heat of a contact one can’t pass by an enemy if he is still moving.’

Ex-SAS Sgt Joseph Varey ‘We should be honouring these men and woman, not degrading our forces with claims of battlefield murder. Paul Aspen, ex Royal Navy officer