Veterans' Badges: do you know someone who hasn't claimed theirs?

This is a photo of me with Alex and Queenie Green, who live in Glenthorpe in Putney Park Avenue. Alex and Queenie have been married for 61 years, although the reason I visited them recently was not to mark that considerable achievement but because both of them served in the armed forces during the Second World War and neither had yet claimed their Veterans' Badge.

Alex and Queenie are lifelong Wandsworth residents: they spent most of their lives in Battersea before moving to Skeena Hill in Southfields and then to Glenthorpe.

They contacted me after receiving the recent edition of my special newsletter for senior citizens, The Putney Pensioner, which mentioned my campaign to encourage everyone eligible to claim their Veterans' Badge to do so. I was more than happy to drop application forms round to them and hear some of their tales of service life.

If you or a relative served in the armed forces, including service on the home front, I hope you'll take the time to download a veterans' badge application form - it's pleasingly short and straightforward - or contact me and I'll happily send you one.

Veterans Day

Today was Veteran's Day - a day for us all to acknowledge the contribution our armed service-men and women make to our country. In London, the event was marked by a Trafalgar Square rally where London Mayor Boris Johnson and Labour Defence Secretary Des Browne announced several ideas to make the lives of our veterans better. This was the third Veteran's Day and its gradually becoming a more significant event.

But there's a long way to go before Veterans' Day becomes something other than fourth or fifth-tier news story on our evening news bulletins. And the reason I say that is that there were no local events in Putney to mark Veterans' Day.

Holocaust Memorial Day is, rightly, marked locally. So is Armistice Day. Both these events exist to remember suffering and loss. It's time we also marked the positive contribution our soldiers make. Can you imagine the US marking its Veterans' Day in the same half-hearted; uncomfortable; almost embarrassed way that we in the UK do so.

It's one reason why a few weeks ago I came out in support of making Veterans' Day a Bank Holiday. That way we can make much more of a statement of our appreciation of what it is to serve, to put on more events nationally and locally, and get more people along to these celebrations. This isn't about us having another holiday; another national party. It's about us saying thank you to those prepared to offer up what the Americans call the last full measure of devotion.

Make Veterans' Day a Bank Holiday

The idea to make Veterans' Day - which is held at the end of June - a national Bank Holiday is one I back wholeheartedly.

The idea is one of a number proposed by Labour MP Quentin Davies, who has a long history of interest in and support for our armed services. There has been some debate recently - but still not what I would regard as a proper national debate - about the respect, or lack therof we afford our servicemen and women.

There is also a reticence - which I understand - not to be as brashly cheerleading in our support of our armed forces, as some other countries are: simply put it's not the way we do things. I'm not suggesting that we need to wear our patriotism on our sleeves to quite the same extent just to prove that we support our troops - but equally, there has been some unacceptable prejudice against soldiers in uniform and it's time to say this is wrong and that we're proud of the job they do. Soldiers should be proud to wear their uniform wherever, whenever - and be made welcome when they do.

So I think devoting a new public bank holiday to the sacrifice and dedication our soldiers give - and to spend some time reflecting on that contribution as a result - is perfectly fitting.

For information Veterans' Day this year, which obviously isn't a Bank Holiday, falls on Friday 27th June, as you can see from the logo above. But let's hope that come 2009 it will be.

PJ front page in Guardian

Further to my report yesterday on backing British Serviceman and Wandsworth resident PJ Williams get action from the Home Office so that he continue serving our country in the army, the Wandsworth Guardian have made this story their front page this week.

I'm delighted that this story - little short of a scandal, in fact - is getting the attention it deserves. If we continue the pressure on the Home Office, I'm confident that we'll get the breakthrough needed, and PJ will get the resolution to his two year nationality dispute he deserves.

Click here to read a full-size version of the front page.

How not to treat our servicemen

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about my campaign session in the Arndale.

Following our work there a resident od Sudbury House, Mr Williams, got in touch to seek help with a problem he's having with the Border & Immigration Agency (BIA).

MrWilliams is a Jamaican national who serves in the British Army. He married an EU citizen and has a teenage daughter who was born in this country. He has always worked and saw active duty in Kosovo. He is entitled to permanent leave to remain in our country, which he has made his home.

Yet the BIA has so far failed to deal with his application – despite having over two years to do so. On its own, this is a shoddy state of affairs and one wonders why exactly such a relatively straight forward matter should take so long.

However, it is compounded by the fact that in making his application Mr Williams was required to surrender his passport to the BIA. Consequently, he has been unable to travel abroad for either personal reasons or professional business. That means that he has been unable to join his unit in either Afghanisatan or Iraq, where his services as a mechanic would be of obvious use and benefit to service personnel serving in those theatres of war. Imagine for one minute how you would feel if your passport had been confiscated by the government for two years - unable to travel abroad on work or holiday.

I have written to both the Border & Immigration Agency and Liam Byrne MP, the Immigration Minister, to argue Mr Williams’ case. I want his application determined as a matter of priority.

Mr Williams has served this country in Kosovo and is willing to serve it again in Afghanistan, Iraq and wherever else he may be needed. He has shown a degree of commitment to our country that deserves our gratitude, an entitlement to stay as long as he chooses, and his passport back.

The Wandsworth Guardian has now taken up this story after I got in touch with them.

Marking the contribution women made in our World Wars

A couple of years ago, the Government launched a badge that all military veterans could wear with pride as a small way of marking their sacrifice for our country.

Now, the scheme has been expanded to include the Women's Land Army and Women's Timber Corps who worked on the Home Front providing food and wood during the First and Second World Wars while many of the men who had been the agricultural labour force were away fighting.

During World War I as many as 260,000 women were enlisted as farm labourers as part of the Women's Land Army - and in retrospect this was almost as significant an event in advancing the equal treatment and respect of women as the Suffrage Movement that gained ground in the 1910s and 1920s.

I fully share the views of Environment Secretary Hilary Benn who, when launching the scheme at the end of last month said: "It is absolutely right that we at last recognise the selfless efforts these women made to support the nation through the dark days of World War I and II. This badge is a fitting way to pay tribute to their determination, courage and spirit in the face of adversity. I hope that as many eligible women as possible will apply for one."

Application forms are now available for anyone who believes that they may be eligible for a badge. If you or a member of your family would like to apply, you can download an application form here, or by writing to:

Dermot McInerney
DEFRA
5E Millbank c/o 17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR

or by phoning the DEFRA helpline on 08459 33 55 77. You or your family member just need to provide date of birth, approximate dates of service and the location at which they were stationed.