Posted on 03/28/2003 7:01:04 AM PST by Conservative Me
Rally is called to support troops sent into battle By Simon de Bruxelles
THE wives, mothers, family and friends of Service personnel fighting in Iraq are to stage a rally to show their support for their loved ones. Relatives say they are fed up with coverage given to vocal anti-war protesters and they want the troops to know they do have support at home.
The rally in Exeter in Devon tomorrow will be the first such to back the soldiers, sailors and airmen fighting the war on Saddam. The West County is the home of many of the 3,000 members of 3 Commando Brigade, which has its headquarters in the naval town of Plymouth.
Eight Royal Marines were among the first British Service personnel to die in the war when their helicopter crashed a week ago today. Other relatives are expected from Cornwall which lost six men when two helicopters normally based at RNAS Culdrose near Helston collided the following day.
Debbie Roberts, a mother of two, decided to join the rally after trying to remonstrate with a group of anti-war protesters in Tavistock last weekend. Mrs Roberts, 36, whose husband Paul is a sergeant in the Royal Marines, wanted to let them know how distressing relatives of Service personnel found their protest. Instead of sympathy or understanding she was told her husband had “blood on his hands”.
She says her children Matthew, aged 11 and Leah, aged ten, have been asked by schoolfriends if they were worried about their father being killed. Mrs Roberts said: “You go through a range of emotions when your loved ones are out there, especially when you have children who are missing their dad. They are trying to cope but it really does not help when they see demonstrators out there every night. I just feel they are being really insensitive.”
The Exeter demonstration, billed as a “Patriot Rally”, is being organised by former soldier Ken Hill, who hopes to attract dozens of relatives of servicemen and women.
Mr Hill, who served for 12 years with the Royal Corps of Signals and the 4th Battalion Devon and Dorset Regiment, said: “I hope this rally is a catalyst for the whole country to get right behind our Service personnel and the families they leave behind at home.
“I want the wives, mothers, girlfriends, sons, daughters and parents of those serving to know that there is support for them. They are not getting the support they deserve.”
Elizabeth Gray, from Penzance, west Cornwall, said: “There has been an awful lot of media coverage of anti-war protests and it is time that people everywhere now realise what is happening and give their full support to our troops.
“They need to know that ordinary people back at home — just ordinary people as well as their families — are thinking of them in what is a very tense and trying situation.”
Arthur Read, an artist, and his wife Jennie, from Tavistock, Devon, have their 33-year-old son Rupert serving with the Queen’s Dragoon Guards.
Mrs Read said: “I think we are living in a democratic society and we are very fortunate to be able to express our views one way or the other.
“Expressing our views is what we are fighting for, although that may get a bit lost in the fog of war.”
Please notify A Navy Vet, Bob J, and diotima. Thank you.
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