In 2018, when he was a Colour Sergeant in the Coldstream Guards, Darren Hardy wrote a moving poem that he dedicated to Veterans Aid. It was called The Armistice Ghost.
The poem has particular significance because it was written in 2018, the Centenary of the Armistice. Now, six years later, its sentiments are as relevant as ever.
Darren, who volunteered for a time at Veterans Aid, has been a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London since 2019. He is still serving in the Army Reserve as a flautist in the Band of the Honourable Artillery Company in London. His poignant words are read, by him, in the video below:
Armistice Day has been observed annually since 1919 with a two-minute silence. Held each year at 11am on 11 November, the silence coincides with the time in 1918 at which the First World War came to an end and is observed at war memorials and in public places throughout the UK and Commonwealth. A two-minute silence is also observed at 11am on Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday in November. The service is attended by senior members of the Royal Family, including His Majesty The King and HM Government. It features a March Past of around 10,000 veterans.
In 1945 the number of men and women serving in the UK’s Armed Forces peaked at 4,907,000. Then, just as in 1919, demobbed service personnel flooded the streets seeking employment and housing in a world that had changed beyond recognition – much like the post-pandemic landscape that we inhabit now, with active conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East causing ripples of social and economic hardship extending well beyond their immediate borders. Today there are just 142,560 active personnel in 2023. (77,540 Army, 32,180 Royal Air Force, 26,330 Royal Navy, and 6,510 Royal Marines) – and correspondingly fewer veterans (around 1.8m).
Veterans Aid was there for them in 1932, when poverty and unemployment left homeless and hungry veterans sleeping on the Thames Embankment. It has been there for them ever since, providing immediate, practical support and a hand up, back to lives of dignity and sustainable independent living for those in need.
