My parents were both in the Army Medical Corp and both went on to work in the NHS. After the war,Mum was a nursing sister and dad was a Leading Consultant Physician specialising in infectious diseases. He also lectured in the teaching hospitals in London and wrote several published articles in The Lancet and other medical journals. He worked until his early death, at 56, from cancer.
In the war, mum was an Queen Alexandra's Nurse and was one of the nurses who went over on D-Day to help the wounded servicemen. She was also sent into Belsen concentration camp to nurse the ill and injured prisoners. That's the one part of her work which she never talked about other than to say that, while she was there, she saw things that she would never forget.
Both my parents gained medals for their service.
When mum died she'd left a donation to the British Legion and I've also got the same request in my Will. As well as donating money to the British Legion regularly, I also bought one of the poppies that were on display at the Tower.
So many have given their lives in the service of our country and so many are still serving in the forces to ensure that we keep our freedom.
They, and those to come, should never be forgotten.