Veterans ‘stuffed’ again
The
UK Military Covenant Commission report identified injustices in a lack
of past medallic recognition for those who had served in the British
Armed Forces. This led to the Conservative Party in their 2010 General
Election manifesto and the Coalition “ Programme for Government”
commitment to undertake a comprehensive Medal Review. But ‘MoD’ have stuffed our veterans.
The
Ministry of Defence failed to publicly notify when the medal review
started; what its terms of reference were and when it would report;
failed to consult with veterans, and produced unsubstantiated findings
based on false arguments. In a matter of weeks MoD completed a paper
based exercise covering 65 years of injustice and inconsistency of
medallic recognition of millions of veterans.
Veteran
organisations representing the Cold War; National Service; Korea Post
Armistice; Nuclear Testing and the UK National Defence Medal campaigns
have all condemned the MoD’s murky Medal Review.
Credit
to the Prime Minister who refused to endorse the discredited review
report and returned it to MoD for consultation with veterans, consultation has not taken place.
Credit to the Deputy Prime Minister who refused to endorse the report
and called for a reconstituted review with an independent Chair and wide
consultation with veterans,his call was dismissed. Disgrace to
the MoD whose whole flawed process is still shrouded in secrecy despite
the Coalition Government’s transparency agenda. What a shambolic mess.
We
should all ask the questions: why would MoD carry out a secretive Medal
Review and disregard the Governments transparency Agenda? Why would MoD
disregard David Cameron’s directive that they should consult with
veterans? Why would MoD disregard Nick Clegg’s call for an independent
review? Why would MoD not wish to recommend to Her Majesty she honour
our veterans through the award of the National Defence Medal? Even those
who do not support medallic recognition, agree our veterans deserve a
fair hearing in a review that is transparent and impartial.
It
is time for the Government to draw ‘a line in the sand’ through an
independent transparent review, which consults with veterans.
Click to day http://epetitions.direct.gov.
100,000 signatures will secure a Parliamentary debate on the defence medal.
Yours in the RAFA Association
Rob Vaneker
Netherlands
I do not know if anything from America will help persuade the UK MOD, but I signed the petition hoping it will
be of some help to them.
Jerald Terwilliger
National Chairman
American Cold War Veterans
"We Remember"
---------------- "And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades." -- Robert M. Gates, 1996
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