Disabled Veterans remember the Fallen

Posted on Friday 18th November 2016

Disabled veterans from The Royal Star and Garter Homes paid tribute to the Fallen at several Remembrance events, in the centenary year of the Battle of the Somme and the Charity’s own Centenary.

Residents attended a special Western Front Association service at The Guards’ Chapel, Wellington Barracks, on Friday 11 November.

The Charity’s Surbiton Home also held a Remembrance Service for those unable to travel. Residents, staff and volunteers shared the service, led by Reverend Helen Hancock of St Matthew’s Church. Students from the German School and Southborough High School read Sergeant-Major James Milne’s First World War Letter, ‘My Own Beloved Wife’, in English and German before lighting a candle of reconciliation.

Resident Vi Butler with Reverend Helen Hancock at the Surbiton Home

On Sunday 13 November, a group of residents from the Home, accompanied by staff, joined the March Past at the Cenotaph in London’s Whitehall to commemorate Remembrance Day in the presence of the Charity’s Patron, Her Majesty The Queen.

Resident John Jenner meets students from The German School

The Charity’s Chief Executive, Andy Cole, attended the Remembrance event at the Cenotaph with residents, staff and volunteers. He commented:

“It was an honour to attend this year’s Remembrance Sunday parade with our residents, to remember and to pay tribute to veterans past and present who have served our nation. This year marks the centenary of the Battles of the Somme and Jutland as well as the Charity’s own centenary so it is especially important to our veterans to march here.”

Residents, staff and volunteers of The Royal Star and Garter Homes, at the March Past in Whitehall

About The Royal Star and Garter Homes:

The Royal Star and Garter Homes is a charity founded in 1916 to care for the severely injured young men returning from the battlegrounds of the First World War. Today we provide specialist care to the whole military family in our friendly, state-of-the-art Homes. Disabled ex-Servicemen and women, and their partners, can all benefit from our pioneering approach to nursing, dementia and therapeutic care.

We are proud to have enjoyed Royal patronage since our foundation, including that of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II from 1953 to the present day.

Anyone who is physically disabled or incapacitated and has served in Her Majesty’s Forces is eligible to apply for a place in one of The Royal Star and Garter Homes, as well as the partners of ex-Service people.

We are in the process of building new Homes around the country to provide specialist nursing care for disabled ex-Service people in the best modern surroundings, including dementia care facilities to address this growing need. The first of these prestigious new Homes opened in Solihull, West Midlands, in the autumn of 2008 and has already established itself as a centre of excellence. The state-of-the-art facilities at Solihull have been emulated at a second new Home in Surbiton, Surrey, which opened in August 2013 and which will also enable the Charity to offer interim care for young disabled Service personnel. Following the successes of the first two Homes, a third Home in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, is being built, with a planned opening in 2018.

The Charity is celebrating its centenary: providing specialist care for disabled veterans since 1916.

Of further interest...

Disabled Veterans remember the Fallen

Further Reading

Of further interest...

Starlight Service Celebrating Loved Ones at Christmas

ARMISTICE AND REMEMBRANCE DAY

Author talk: Richard Van Emden

The Lengthening War