This morning, on the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, we remembered the sacrifice of those who have served in the armed forces and those in the civilian population, whose lives were lost or irreversibly changed by conflicts since 1914.
This cross party motion proposes that we Remember and honour all those who have lost their lives and made sacrifices in the service of our country, including civilian casualties of conflict.
This year has marked the 80th anniversaries of Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain, and 75 years since VE and VJ Day.
It is also 60 years since the Malayan Emergency ended, and 38 years since the Falklands War, 30 years since HM Armed Forces were deployed to the Gulf following the invasion of Kuwait, and 25 years since the first phase of UK operations in support of peacekeeping missions in the former Yugoslavia ended.
During the retreat to Dunkirk, both John Edwards and his cousin Llewellyn Lewis fought in the rear-guard defence with the 1st Royal Welch Fusiliers (RWF).
John Edwards was born in Ruthin in 1911 and was an officer’s groom. Llewellyn Lewis was born near Dolgellau in 1919 and was called up at the start of the war.
He was 20 when he was captured; Edwards was 28.
On 26 May 1940 Edwards and Lewis were far from the beaches of Dunkirk.
They had been ordered to stand and fight “to the last round and the last man” in an effort to slow the German advance while others were evacuated.
The 1st RWF fought at the small town of Saint-Venant and nearby villages, retaking bridges over important waterways.
However, with the Germans still holding other bridges, the company was surrounded, suffered heavy casualties, and the final men were captured in an attempted breakout that night.
Edwards, Lewis and the other captured soldiers were marched towards Germany with little food and water and were eventually taken to Toruń in Poland.
Edwards spent the rest of the war in captivity working as a PoW farmer. He returned to Britain in 1945 skeletal and was unrecognisable to those who knew him.
Lewis died in Stalag XX-A in 1941, aged 21.
80 years after the Battle of Britain, we remember the “Welsh Few”, 67 men from all corners of Wales, who served with distinction in the air and made a significant and gallant contribution to the Battle of Britain.
They were part of the 2,947 aircrew from Britain, the Commonwealth and many other countries who fought in the battle.
We remember too, the vital part played by RAF bases in Wales in supplying pilots and aircraft in that desperate struggle during the long hot Summer of 1940.
On 5 September 1940, Sergeant Glyn Griffiths from Llandudno, flying Hurricanes with 17 Squadron, shot down a Heinkel 111 bomber over Chatham.
He had attended John Bright School in Llandudno before joining the RAF as a pilot in 1938.
He became a Battle of Britain ‘ace’ - a pilot with five confirmed victories - shooting down ten enemy aircraft during the battle, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal.
His medals and flying logbook are now on display in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.
St Asaph Pilot Officer Denis Crowley-Milling, flying Spitfires with 242 Squadron, shot down a Messerschmitt 110 fighter bomber over east London.
Later in the war, he shot down a number of enemy aircraft and was awarded the DSO, the DFC and Bar.
In August 1941, he was shot down over France but evaded capture and, with the help of the French underground, managed to escape back to Britain and re-join his squadron.
In the years after the war, Dennis Crowley-Milling had a distinguished RAF career, rising to the rank of Air Marshal and also being knighted.
For Polish Heritage Day on the 9th May this year I recorded a message for Wrexham’s Polish Integration Support Centre, referring to the key role played by Polish Fighter Squadron 303, Flying Hawker Hurricanes, which claimed the largest number of aircraft shot down of the 66 Allied fighter squadrons engaged in the Battle of Britain.
31 out of the 145 Polish pilots who took part in the Battle of Britain died in action.
The role played by the RAF in Wales in protecting the skies above Britain continues today.
The crews of our Typhoon jets which defend our skies 24/7 are all trained at RAF Valley on Anglesey - and St Athan performs a vital role in training engineering technicians for the RAF’s front line.
On the 8th May, we commemorated the historic 75th Anniversary of VE Day - Victory in Europe Day - the day on which Allied forces formally announced the surrender of Germany, bringing the Second World War to a close in Europe.
However, many thousands of Armed Forces personnel were still involved in bitter fighting in the Far East.
On the 15th August, we remembered the 75th anniversary of VJ Day, commemorating both the surrender of Japan and the end of the Second World War.
This year, we must also thank our Armed Forces for the significant peace-time contribution they have made to ensure vital NHS services still run and supplies are distributed to our important frontline services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As this Cross Party Motion states “the Welsh Parliament expresses gratitude for the significant contribution made by the Armed Forces to the national COVID-19 response in Wales.”
However, we should also ensure that they continue to receive our support through upholding the Armed Forces Covenant.
We welcomed last month’s confirmation from the Welsh Government that Military Veterans in Wales will benefit from a new railcard offering discounted rail travel, after the scheme was announced by the UK Government earlier this year.
Following a campaign led by The Royal British Legion and Poppyscotland, which I have previously raised here, we welcomed the UK Government’s announcement in July that the 2021 Census will now include a question to provide information on whether someone has served in HM Armed Forces.
This will provide the Legion, public bodies and other military charities with valuable information to ensure they can best meet the needs of serving personnel, veterans and their families.
The ‘Great Place to Work for Veterans’ initiative was recently launched by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs in the UK Cabinet Office to encourage more veterans to join the civil service when they leave the Armed Forces, ensuring the civil service benefits from the wide-range of skills and talents in the Armed Forces community.
We therefore also welcomed last weekend’s Welsh Government announcement that they will be joining this initiative.
Leaving the Armed Forces can be particularly challenging for veterans, who often find it difficult to settle into civilian life and find a job.
As well as benefiting the civil service, this initiative boosts the employment prospects of people who have served, helping them to advance their careers beyond the Armed Forces.
It is imperative that the hard work of Veterans NHS Wales both continues and continues to expand, providing Veterans living in Wales with assessment and psychological treatment for mental health problems, including PTSD.
Between April 2010, when its service was launched, and March 2019, they have received 4,319 referrals.
In 2018-19 alone, 808 referrals were received.
Veterans’ NHS Wales Business case for increased funding now is unarguable and I therefore ask the Welsh Government when a decision will be made, where several therapists have uncertain employment post March 2021.
The scale of need was again emphasised to me during a call in September with the charity Icarus Online, in its third year after being established in response to the issues faced by Veterans who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and the severity of their symptoms.
Icarus provides Immediate Care, Assessment & Rehabilitation for Military, Veterans, Uniformed Services and their families.
Their team of 16 people, all volunteers, are treating 1,100 people annually, plugging a gap in access to treatment.
They receive 3 new cases every day via their answering service, provided by Moneypenny in Wrexham.
As Amendment 2 states, we must strive for peaceful resolutions to all conflicts and for an end to war, and we therefore welcome the establishment of Academi Heddwch Cymru.
We will be supporting it accordingly.
A Welsh Conservative Government would also:
- Appoint an Armed Forces Commissioner for Wales, accountable to the Welsh Parliament to champion the needs of the Armed Forces community and ensure that Wales upholds the Armed Forces Covenant.
- Establish an Armed Forces Card to provide – free bus travel; priority access to NHS treatment and home adaptations for service-related injuries or illness; free access to leisure centres and CADW heritage sites.
- Introduce a Service Pupil Premium for the children of those serving in the Armed Forces.
- Bring 150 empty social housing properties back into use specifically for military veterans at risk of homelessness.
- And ensure the maintenance of war memorials.
“We will remember them”.