WITH reference to John Scase’s letter of last week, could I respectfully suggest he re-read my last correspondence regarding the recent announcement about the newly sanctioned Arctic Convoy Star.

I did not, as Mr Scase suggests, link the sacrifice of merchant seamen during that campaign to the issue of the return of the Cenotaph to the High Street.

What I did was use the medal campaign as an example of how, despite those in charge repeatedly saying “no”, the campaigners were ultimately successful in their goal because the cause was right and proper.

The same, I believe, can be said of the war memorial campaign, which will ultimately succeed, because it is the right thing to put the memorial back where it was intended to stand as a reminder of the sacrifice of all those who have died in military conflicts around the world.

However, on the subject of the new medal, my late uncle served on the Arctic convoys, and therefore I am hopeful that despite his passing some 25 years ago, our family will finally be able to claim this award just as he would have been able to, were he still alive.

I know that if granted, my cousin will wear his father’s new medal at the Remembrance Parade with as much pride as he does the others that my uncle earned during the war.

Finally, I do think that it is sad to think that Mr Scase feels that, despite his own military service, he is unable to attend the Remembrance Sunday parade to honour the sacrifices of our armed forces personnel because of the religious aspects of the service.

I am sure he is not alone and I am partly in agreement with him here.

That is one reason I believe that the secular setting of the High Street would encourage more people of other faiths or denominations, or indeed those with no religious leanings at all and who may be put off by going into a Church of England churchyard, to attend the memorial services too.

Bob Roberts, Millway Road, Andover