Sir, Geoffrey Nicholson (letter,November 16) proposes that we abandon Remembrance Day in 2018. He does not state what his age or personal history is, such as what his family did in 1914-18, 1939-45 or during any war. My own war experience merely amounts to a commission in the RAFVR and two or three years with the USAF during the first Gulf War.

My own family appear to have come through both the First and Second World wars relatively unscathed. However, my parents have always engendered a sense of respect for those who gave their yesterdays for our todays. In turn I taught my own son the history that is all of ours. In this day and age of government spin, lies and propaganda, we need reminding. I see no reason why this will change between now and 2018.

He also assumes that we have abandoned the celebrations of Agincourt and Waterloo. In this sweeping statement he ignores the fact that Remembrance Day encompasses all wars, battles and combat in British history. He also ignores those of us who do remember such events privately. As for things “decay(ing) slowly through neglect”, I have seen no evidence of this and last Sunday it was all too evidently not the case.

Of course I expect the British Government to embrace his proposal (most likely on the ground of cost savings). After all, it will just be yet another betrayal of those who fought and died in the lousy trenches of the Somme, Arras, Passchendaele, Ypres, Gallipoli, etc — from the promise of it being “all over by Christmas” through “the war to end all wars” to the shameful treatment of war widows, and the sufferers of the supposed non-existent Gulf War syndrome. On my part “from the going down of the sun, until the morning”, I will always remember them.

DAVID R. JEFFERIES
Thorpe St Andrew, Norfolk

Sir, Geoffrey Nicholson appears to believe that the dead among professional forces do not warrant the same remembrance as conscripts who died. I would remind him that since the Second World War there has been only one year without any fatalities on active service. If he had looked closely at the participants in the parade he would have noticed two things.

First, many of them are not veterans. I never saw active service in the RAF but I am proud to attend in remembrance of those who did and died serving their country. Secondly, an increasing number attend and wear with pride medals of their loved ones who have died.

He must also be aware that the Cenotaph is only one service of many throughout the world. My wife attended the Remembrance Mass at Westminster Cathedral where the true meaning of comradeship, with support for the widows and orphans, was also evident. These young men and women, many with medals they had received from Kosovo and Basra, stood for those who lost their lives to protect the freedom that we live in today.

BOB DURSTON
Guildford, Surrey

Sir, I must take issue with your correspondent who states that “Since 1945 . . . war deaths have been from professional forces rather than . . . conscripts.” It is my understanding that during National Service in the 1950s some 400 conscripts lost their lives in Korea, Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus, to name a few. Their memory is precious to many of us and will not “decay slowly through neglect”.

ALAN ROBINSON
Wing, Bucks

Sir, Over the last ten years there has been a significant increase in people attending Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday services. At our Royal British Legion service on Sunday, we had people crowded into the church and many had to stand. There was a good cross-section of our parish from the uniformed organisations to world war veterans.

After 37 years in the ministry I see no decline in interest in keeping this observance; in fact, there seems to be a growing pressure to return to the pre-1945 tradition of Armistice Day which is still kept in France and more particularly in Belgium, where the sacrifices of the Western Front are still remembered with gratitude by Belgians.

CANON ALAN BENNETT
Aston Clinton, Bucks

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