Homeless ex-servicemen and women in central London are to receive a helping hand this Christmas thanks to generous staff at MOD HQ.
Civilians and Service personnel brought in food, drink and other gifts to create hampers after a Corporal and Senior Aircraftwoman (SAC) in the Chief of the Air Staff’s office realised how close Main Building was to the Veterans Aid drop-in centre in Victoria.
SAC Donna Adamson and Cpl Andrena McElhinney sent a general e-mail around the building in November and were overwhelmed by the response.
SAC Adamson said “I expected we’d get enough contributions for a few boxes that we’d store under our desks, but so much came in that we had to look for a store room. In the end we had enough for 57 bags.
“The gifts are all high quality and each box, which contains about £20 worth of biscuits, drinks, chocolates, tinned food and non-perishables, will I’m sure brighten up the Christmases of many Service veterans who are residents at the drop-in centre.
“They have served their country in the past. It’s not for us to judge the circumstances they have found themselves in; we just wanted to give something back to former colleagues. I’d like to thank all those who contributed.”
Veterans Aid is a charity that offers homeless, or about to become homeless, veterans accommodation, food, cash and advice. In addition to the drop-in centre in Buckingham Palace Road in Victoria, the charity has a hostel in the East End.
Veterans Aid came into being in October 2007, but the history of helping homeless ex-Service personnel in the capital dates back to the 1930s when a canteen and recreation room for destitute ex-servicemen was opened at Belvedere Road, Lambeth, South London.
Additional accommodation was obtained, a hostel opened and a night shelter established in co-operation with other societies and, in 1933, the title ‘Embankment Fellowship Centre’ was adopted.
In March 1969 the name was changed to ‘Ex-Service Fellowship Centre’, the cypher ‘EFC’ being retained. During the year 2005/06 the charity provided nearly 20,000 nights of shelter.
Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, Air Vice-Marshal Timo Anderson, said “It was a great idea of Donna’s and she and Andrena organised the collection of the presents. I congratulate them.
“Their efforts will undoubtedly make a difference and their efforts are ensuring it becomes a regular MOD Main Building Christmas event.”
A MAN who marched at a Remembrance Day parade with an impossible array of medals was named last night as carpenter Roger Day, 61.
Neighbours said the keen amateur actor was once thrown out of his local pub in a row over an SAS badge he was wearing.
Mr Day denied he was a conman and said the 17 medals – including top bravery awards – were ‘pukka’.
But medals expert Martin Harrison said: ‘He would be world-famous and some sort of Rambo character – if he had been awarded them all.’ A drive to identify the mystery medal man was launched after he was pictured marching alongside brave servicemen at the November 11 parade in Bedworth, Warwickshire. Mr Day was tracked down to his home in Earl Shilton, near Hinckley, Leicestershire, where it emerged that he is a regular churchgoer who sings in the choir.
He and his wife Maxine, who neighbours said was ‘considerably younger’, wrote and sang a duet welcoming troops back from Afghanistan at a ceremony last month.
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Mr Day, who wore a beige SAS beret at the parade, insisted his medals were genuine, but said the Official Secrets Act stopped him giving details. He said: ’They’re all proper, pukka campaign medals. Medals I won in conflicts while I was serving with the British forces. All I can say is South Atlantic the Gulf, Kuwait and one or two other stations.’ The medals included the Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross – the highest bravery awards after the Victoria Cross – campaign awards from Korea and the Falklands, medals for both officers and other ranks and foreign decorations.
Mr Harrison, a squadron leader with the RAF Volunteer Reserve and liaison officer at the Bedworth Armistice Day Parade committee, said: ‘It is a ridiculous, ludicrous combination of medals which is unheard of.’ Mr Day also denied being confronted at the parade and admitting he was a fake. He said: ‘I saw it out to its bitter end and then went drinking with some ex-SAS buddies.’ But it emerged last night that he was once thrown out of his local pub after being accused of pretending to be an SAS hero.
One regular at The Plough said: ‘One of the lads who was a soldier pulled him up on it because no one from the regiment would ever wear an official pin badge in a non-military capacity.
’He started getting very jittery and aggressive and started threatening to prove his SAS skills. At this point I grabbed him and asked him to leave.
’He was very scared and looked like he was about to cry, saying, “Sorry, sorry, I won’t do it again” and whimpering. He left with his tail between his legs.’ Graham Gittings, vicar at the local church, where Mr Day was married three years ago, said: ‘I do not think he is pretending. There are pictures of him in the armed forces in his home and he has given talks to church groups about war and peace.’ Hinckley Ex-Servicemen’s Club has launched an investigation. Secretary Paul Savage said: ‘If he has been wearing medals he is not entitled to he will be facing a £1,000 fine and he will be thrown out of the club.
’Most members consider it disgusting for someone to wear medals that do not belong to them. It makes a mockery of everything.’ More News Briefs:
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KUANTAN: The caning sentence imposed on part-time model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno still has not been carried out following syubahah (doubt) in the implementation.
Pahang Religious Affairs Committee Chairman Datuk Mohamad Sahfri Ab Aziz said they must be careful when carrying out the punishment, especially on female offenders.
“In our 52 years of independence, we have not had a female caner,” he said replying to a supplementary question from Syed Mohammed Tuan Lonnik (PASBeserah) regarding the obstacle to carrying out the sentence on Kartika at the 12th Pahang state assembly, here Friday.
Mohamad Sahfri said, however, a similar punishment had been carried out for the same offence on an Indonesian man, whereby he received six strokes of the cane at the Penor Prison, here Satirday.
He said Pahang was among the states that provided for the fine, prison and caning sentences for the offence of consuming alcohol.
Kartika, 32, was fined RM5,000 and sentenced to be caned six times by the Kuantan Syariah High Court on July 20 after she confessed to violating Islamic laws by drinking beer in a hotel lobby in Cherating on July 11 last year.
Replying to Syed Mohammed’s original question that the caning sentence did not follow the Islamic law, Mohamad Sahfri said it complied with regulations approved by the Pahang state assembly and jurisdiction allocated by the Federal Constitution through the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) 1965.
He said that although the Islamic laws fixed between 40 to 80 canings for alcohol consumption, which is recognised as a hudud offence, the Syariah Court had no jurisdiction to impose hudud sentences. –
Penampang: ORANG Asli from Peninsular Malaysia turned up for the Upko meeting at the Sabah Cultural Centre for the first time, Saturday.
Dressed in their distinctive traditional headgear, five Upko division chiefs of Tapah, Gopeng, Parit, Tanjung Malim and Kampar from Perak, led by Suki Mee, Tanjung Malim division chief, were among the delegates.
Suki said they were here to bring the aspirations of their people through the party of their choice.
He said they would be taking part in the party convention today (Sunday).
According to him, they applied to join Upko in 2001 and were only granted approval early this year.
“We’ve been looking for a platform for our struggle. We feel that our voice and our difficulties have not been viewed seriously,” he said.
He said Upko’s focus on defending the indigenous people in Malaysia was the key reason for the Orang Asli being attracted to Upko.
The Orang Asli, according to Upko President, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, were accepted into the party since they were also of the Pasokmomogun groups despite most of them being in peninsula.
“We also took into consideration the socio-economic achievement of the Orang Asli who are still lagging behind even though they receive assistance from the Orang Asli Affairs Department,” he said.
Of the 150,000 Orang Asli in the peninsula he said not many are in possession of land titles.
In fact, where land matters are concerned, the problems faced by the Orang Asli are almost similar to the Pasokmomogun communities in Sabah.
“In this respect, Upko cannot promise anything to our Orang Asli brothers and sisters from the peninsula.
“What we have is only a political party that has only its voice É but we will strive to find solutions to the various communal issues,” he assured.
He also said Upko formed its divisions in Perak, Selangor and Johor at the insistence and persistent request from people there. Initially, Upko started as only clubs in Semarang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia and in Kuala Lumpur.
But when the club in Semarang became non-active, the club in Kuala Lumpur decided to form an Upko Division in Shah Alam, Selangor.
“Early this year, upon requests from the Orang Asli in Perak, the party’s Supreme Council made the decision to approve their application to join us É this after several series of briefings were held in Perak,” he said.
Dompok said the party is acutely aware of the implications that might arise from Upko’s decision to accept the Orang Asli into the party.
Nevertheless, he stressed that as a party, Upko could only voice the Orang Asli’s aspirations, complaints and feelings in the various forums and opportunities organised by the party and would bring the matters up to the higher ups.
He said just like other Upko leaders, the Orang Asli must also be ready to share the responsibility in the party’s struggle.
Just as the Kadazandusun in Sabah and Dayak in Sarawak have already formed their respective chambers of commerce, he said the Orang Asli are also in the process of setting up their own entity.
Upko supported this endeavour, as this is the party’s aspiration for the Pasokmomogun communities.
“The soldiers were all killed as a result of gunshot wounds sustained in an attack in the Nad-e?Ali district of Helmand Province during the afternoon of 3 November 2009,” it said in a statement.
“The attack is subject to investigation.”
Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield said on BBC radio that the soldiers killed had been mentoring Afghan police and living inside the checkpoint.
“It would appear… that an individual Afghan national policeman, possibly acting in conjunction with another, started firing within the checkpoint,” he said.
The incident brings to 229 the number of British troops who have been killed in Afghanistan.
It makes this the bloodiest year for the armed forces since the Falklands War in 1982.
Three of the soldiers were from the Grenadier Guards and two from the Royal Military Police. Families have been informed.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “The death of five brave soldiers in a single incident is a terrible loss.
“My thoughts, condolences and sympathies go to their families, loved ones and colleagues. I know that the whole country, too, will mourn their loss.”
Lieutenant Colonel Rob Thomson led his battle group in Afghanistan, and he led those who survived back to London yesterday, ending one of the bloodiest tours of duty in recent British military history.
Twenty-three soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles battle group died under his command and another 80 were wounded. Eleven suffered life-changing injuries, such as amputations or the loss of eyesight.
The survivors followed Thomson as he headed a parade through the streets of Croydon today. And those that were killed, Thomson felt, were behind him still, in spirit at least.
Thomson said the group’s six months in the region had exacted “a heavy cost” as his troops had struggled to secure Sangin and the surrounding area. But he added: “I see every one of those killed standing behind me and telling me to keep going and hold the baton high.”
In the face of growing public concern at the rising British death toll in Afghanistan, he praised the “extraordinary heroism” of his troops and said their sacrifice had not been in vain.
The battalion bore the brunt of an escalating campaign by the Taliban this summer using improvised explosive devices. Five men were killed in a single “daisy chain” bomb attack on 10 July.
Lieutenant Alex Horsfal, 26, commander of the platoon that was hit that day, lost a leg and damaged his hand and was today reunited with friends he had not seen since then. They surrounded his wheelchair as they prepared to march from the Territorial Army centre.
Along with Rifleman Jack Otter, 21, who lost an arm and both legs, Horsfal was one of several amputees to join the parade.
Friends and family of Rifleman Daniel Simpson, a 20-year old father who was killed when the Taliban detonated secondary bombs aimed at stretcher bearers carrying casualties from an initial blast, also attended.
With its combination of marching music and pauses for silence, the parade was equal parts remembrance service and heroes’ welcome.
Hundreds lined the North End shopping street in Croydon, waving union flags and cheering as 100 representatives of the battle group marched in quick time through the streets to a military brass band.
“I support them totally, but I think they should withdraw because I don’t see what good they are doing out there,” said Sue Clarke, 55, a chef who took a break to welcome them home.
Dressed in their desert fatigues and green berets, the troops came to a halt in front of the HMV record shop and stood to remember their fallen comrades. Regardless of their youth – and some were as young as 19 – their often drawn and pale faces told of the stress and trauma of the daily battles with the Taliban in 40C temperatures. The band struck up again and to proud cheers from the crowds the soldiers marched towards a reception at Fairfields Hall where their relieved families and a table groaning under pints of beer awaited them.
Thomson said the dead who were not able to march alongside them had left “a hole in our hearts”, but he said the battle group left Sangin a better place than they found it.
“For me, progress in Sangin has not been dramatic, but we have moved forward, indelibly so,” he said. “Security in the heart of the town has improved, Afghan governance has improved, the bazaar has got bigger, the Afghan army has opened a new patrol base which has reduced the enemy’s freedom to operate and the enemy has come off second best on countless occasions.”
He said his troops had removed six Taliban roadside bombing teams since 23 July.
“The commitment, courage and sheer grit of every man in the battle group has been humbling,” he said. “In extraordinary times, extraordinary men and women have, day in, day out, done extraordinary things for the good of our nation and for the benefit of the impoverished people of Afghanistan. Some as young as 18 have taken the fight to the enemy in some of the most arduous and demanding situations faced by British soldiers for a generation.”
Horsfal told how he had spent more than three months in Selly Oak military hospital in Birmingham and at Headley Court military rehabilitation centre in Surrey before rejoining his troops today.
“What we have managed to achieve is fantastic, although casualties have been fairly high and it’s been a tough tour,” he said.
He described how he sustained his injuries on the battlegroup’s bloodiest day on a mission which involved meeting the Afghan army “to show the locals we were working well together and the Afghan security forces were able to look after their own country”.
“I’ve got to say that the general public have been awesome,” he said. “The change has been in the last few years. The understanding and the sympathy felt towards the army, and especially those who have been wounded, is phenomenal.”
The mother of a teenage soldier killed in Iraq broke down yesterday as she told an inquiry she wanted Tony Blair to be held to account for the “illegal war”.
Anne Donnachie, whose son Rifleman Paul Donnachie was killed in Basra in April 2007, was among a number of families addressing the Iraq inquiry committee at a regional meeting in Bristol.
Earlier this month in a similar meeting in London, Sir John Chilcot, the committee chairman who had invited the bereaved families to tell him the issues they believe he should focus on, was left in no doubt what they wanted investigated – legality, equipment and the role of Blair.
Yesterday it was the turn of Donnachie to add her voice to the growing clamour for accountability, as committee members Sir Roderick Lyne, Sir Lawrence Freedman and Sir Martin Gilbert looked on.
Accompanied by her husband James, she wept as she made her plea. Echoing the sentiments expressed earlier in the hearing by the family of Territorial Army soldier Corporal Dewi Pritchard, who was killed in Basra in 2003, she said: “I lost my son and he was only 18, and I blame Tony Blair.”
Donnachie, from Reading, Berkshire, who served with 2nd Battalion The Rifles, was killed by small arms fire during a routine patrol in the Ashar district of Basra City on 29 April, two years ago, during one of the worst periods of fighting in the area since the start of the conflict.
Pritchard, 35, from Rhondda, south Wales, was one of three military police officers who died when their civilian 4×4 vehicle was ambushed by gunmen.
His uncle, Brynley Pritchard, spoke on behalf of his family, including the soldier’s father Tony, who also attended.
He told the committee: “We believe the war on Iraq was wrong and unlawful. The UK and US could not justify getting it past the UN because of vetoes by other member countries.
“So we believe a conspiracy was formed by Tony Blair and President Bush to invade Iraq under the pretence that Saddam Hussein had an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and was preparing to use them against other countries of the world.
“We believe the true reason for the war was to protect the oil-producing countries of the Middle East, and was therefore motivated by greed. The protection of the oil fields could have been done by the UN and this could have saved 179 British personnel, numerous United States personnel and countless Iraqi civilians.
“Mr Blair should be taken to task by the UK judicial system for lying in parliament.”
Relatives of Private Phillip Hewett, 21, of 1st Battalion the Staffordshire Regiment, Royal Marine Paul Collins, 21, with 847 Naval Air Squadron, and Prince William’s friend 2nd Lieutenant Joanna Dyer, 24, attached to 2nd Battalion the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, all attended.
The inquiry’s meetings with 50 of the bereaved families will end in Belfast next Wednesday. In addition to Bristol and London, it met in Edinburgh and Manchester. The investigation will also seek the views of current and former serving personnel.
Following his initial meeting with the bereaved, Sir John promised them that their views would “help inform the structure of the inquiry and the lines of questioning to witnesses.”
