Sir, Further to Lord Wallace of Saltaire’s suggestion that future Remembrance Sunday marches draw together the past and present more visibly (letter, Nov 11), perhaps representatives of Forces families could be included in the parade.

After all, it is they who are instrumental in boosting and maintaining the morale of serving military personnel, and who often face considerable personal difficulties themselves while their spouses, or partners, and parents are deployed in combat zones, and after their return, too. Indeed, a survey of army families carried out by the Ministry of Defence in 2006 found that a third of those who responded reported that a change in the behaviour of service personnel returning from duty in Afghanistan and Iraq was having a negative impact on family life (“Service families ‘are suffering the strain of war in silence’,” Oct 31, 2007).

Michelle Obama has stated that she will prioritise helping America’s military spouses as First Lady, understanding, as she and her husband do, that “when our military goes to war, their families go with them”(report, Nov 7). It would be encouraging if Britain’s political leadership would at least similarly acknowledge explicitly the important role that military families play in supporting our Service personnel, and the nation’s debt to them.

An invitation to take part in the Remembrance Sunday parade past the Cenotaph would be a welcome start.

Clare Gibson

The Army Children Archive

London W4

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