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 government in 1948 to give
priority 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
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