Extracts from Wales Assembly: Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services—remembering our armed forces and delivering for our armed forces community - Nov 6
Wednesday, 7 November 2018 07:38
Alun Davies AM (Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public
Services):...We must also remember those who made sacrifices in
conflicts that followed that war. During the world war two,
the RAF played a significant part in turning the war in Europe—its
most significant campaign being the battle of Britain.
Approximately 70,000 RAF personnel lost their lives defending our
country and our peoples. I am also sure that most of you will
have seen the graphic pictures of Bluff Cove...Request free trial
AM (Cabinet Secretary for Local
Government and Public Services):...We must also remember
those who made sacrifices in conflicts that followed that
war. During the world war two, the RAF played a significant
part in turning the war in Europe—its most significant campaign
being the battle of Britain. Approximately 70,000 RAF personnel
lost their lives defending our country and our peoples. I am
also sure that most of you will have seen the graphic pictures of
Bluff Cove during the Falklands war in the early
1980s. British forces including, again, many from Wales, lost their
lives or were severely injured during that conflict. We will
never forget those who have paid the ultimate price and all those
who survived, some with serious injuries, to protect the freedoms
that we enjoy today...
AM:...Well, as you say, we must never
forget the sacrifices made in both the great war 1914-18
and the conflicts that followed. You referred to
the Falklands, and you mentioned Bluff Cove.
Can I pay tribute, and will you join me in paying tribute
to Dr Steven Hughes, who was the regimental medical officer
with 2 Para during the Falklands? It was he who waded out into
the cold waters in Bluff Cove with a group of volunteers to
save so many lives on that horrible, horrible day. Sadly,
he died in May of this year. He himself had been diagnosed
with military PTSD some 12 years after the conflict, and I
had the pleasure and privilege of working with him during
the unfortunately unsuccessful campaign to prove the need
for residential respite and rehabilitative provision
for veterans with complex military mental health issues and
other related problems in Wales. I know last year I
questioned you again about Welsh Government's current
position on reviewing that need for residential provision.
I wonder if you could update us on what work might have
followed since then, at the very least in memory of Dr
Steven Hughes, who was a medic and a military man who
understood at first hand how desperately deep that need was
in Wales and beyond...
AM: I'm grateful to the
Conservative spokesperson for his general welcome
of the statement and for the points he made. I
remember watching the Falklands conflict taking
place, and it's the first time in my lifetime and
my experience that we'd seen war in such a way. For
many of us who were born in the shadow of world war
two, we'd not seen a conflict of that sort, and
then to see it taking place and the human impact of
that I think was something that has affected many
of us. I recognise the work of Steven Hughes
and I join you in paying tribute to him and to
others who have worked so hard to ensure that the
veterans of that conflict and people who fought in
the Falklands have the support
to sustain them through their lives, and that we
also recognise those people who didn't come
home from the Falklands,
and we do that as part, not just of our annual
remembrance tributes, but we do that in the way
that we design and deliver on the covenant
commitments as well.
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