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Torbay Poppy collection 10/11/07
Jenny contacted me at the
beginning of November to ask if I would take my lightweight down to
Morrisons supermarket on the 10/11/07 to help with the poppy appeal, I
hadn’t been asked before so was quite pleased, I was surprised to see 4
soldiers from the 29th commando regiment Royal Artillery there
with a Pinzgauer & field gun, besides several dedicated veterans &
the previous mentioned 4 there were 5 members of the Devon MVT in
attendance with 3 vehicles, my lightweight, Jenny & Clive’s Norton
& Melvins series Land Rover.
The field gun kept the
attentions of young lads while the older generations looked around the
other vehicles, the Norton gained a lot of interest from several veterans
with a tale to tell about riding one during their service, one of whom
ended up going over the handlebars of one but unfortunately I didn’t
catch the full story.
Mike & Ben Ford took the
first stint in the supermarket selling poppies, they couldn’t stay too
long & had to leave at about midday, Jenny took over & a while
later I joined her, there were several cash boxes filled on the day &
we almost ran out of poppies, during my stint with Jenny we topped the
poppy box up twice, we only did one day, the veterans had been there all
week, what a great job they do.
The thing that pleased me most
this year is the media attention towards our most recently lost servicemen
& veterans, for years the media has focused on veterans & lost
service personnel of the 2 world wars, we have lost servicemen almost
every year since the second world war & these men & women seem to
get no recognition, we have men & women serving out in Iraq &
Afghanistan risking their lives daily for the sake of peace, these are the
veterans of tomorrow, these are the people we should be thinking of as
well as remembering those that risked & gave their lives during the 2
world wars & every conflict since.
I was also asked to attend a
photo shoot with veterans & other MVT/MVWF members at the local
surplus store, I arrived at 0830hrs & was greeted by the owner with
the offer of a nice cup of tea, several other Land Rover owners turned up
& we formed up outside the shop with the veterans in the foreground,
once the photo session was over I got talking to another LR owner about
his service with the signals, he was telling me about his stint out in the
gulf with the 250 signals (Queens Gurkha Signals) I couldn’t believe
what I was hearing, I told him that Katy was with the QGS out in the gulf
& he replied that he must have driven Katy at some point as they only
had 4 or 5 lightweights out there with the 250 sigs, he also thinks that
he might have pictures of Katy in the gulf, how strange is that? a veteran
of the first gulf war living 2 miles away who served with the signals
& used/drove Katy, I had to mention it as I was so amazed, I’m
meeting him (Jim) in the week for a chat etc, he owns a 90 that also
served in the desert.
Ian
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