MC 21

 

 

Memorandum from S W Rowley

 

Dear Mr Arbuthnot,

 

I was interested to read in the Summer edition of The Royal British Legion magazine that the Commons Defence Select Committee, of which you are Chair, is to launch an enquiry into the treatment of injured soldiers, It does not say so but I take it that the enquiry is into the treatment of soldiers, sailors and airmen of the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and will concentrate upon the here and now and it is right that you should.

 

That said I am iting to suggest to you that you could do worse than by opening up your enquiry to include comments from those World War 2 servicemen who were seriously wounded and are still alive. Hospital treatment is only part of the story and that can be bad enough but it is life after the Army where trouble really begins and they have a tale to tell, a unique story of coping with civilian life over the past 60 odd years, with the vagaries of the one time War Pensions Dept, the Veterans Agency, General Practitioners and the NIIS generally where the undertaking given by the gove ent in 1948 to give priori treatment to those requiring medical attention for pensionable conditions is honoured more in the breach than in the observance. In my experience none of the connected agencies have gone out of their way to make life any easier and it is still necessary to fight for simple but vital things that should be on offer.

 

I hope the young men and women in your survey fare better in life after the Army than did their World War 2 counterparts but who will remember Iraq fifty years down the line other than those who fought there? More to the point will anyone care..?

 

15 June 2007