The Sandbag Times Issue No: 45

NEWS
THE VETERANS’ MAGAZINE
SBT NEWS July Edition info@sandbagtimes.com
Dame Vera Lynn Demands Removal Of
Her Name From ‘Disrespectful’ Website
Dame Vera Lynn has
broken ties with a 75th
anniversary D-Day
concert after its organisers
were accused of ‘dancing
on the graves of the dead’.
The Forces’ Sweetheart,
101, asked for her name to
be removed from the
website for the event after
veterans and their families
slammed the event as
‘disrespectful’. Due to
take place on June 6 next
year, the Liberty Concert
will take over Sword
Beach in Normandy with
the aim of ‘stimulating
people to stand up again
for peace and freedom’.
After hearing the plans for
the concert, veterans set
up a petition to have the
event moved to a ‘more
sensible location’ which
has gained more than
1,000 signatures. The
petition reads: ‘They will
be partying on the very
ground that hundreds of
men lost their lives 75
years before fighting for
our freedom, where
families have scattered
ashes of loved ones who
fought on that beach, and
where returning veterans
want to go but will be
unable to. 'An additional
75,000 people in an
already very busy area
will become a liability.
'Let them have their
concert, but NOT on any
of the beaches in
Normandy and preferably
NOT on the June 6, 2019.
Read more here...'
British Veterans Feel 'Undervalued'
And Hide Military Service To Get A Job
Britains veterans feel
“undervalued” and many hide
their military service to get a job,
a detailed survey revealed
yesterday. It contrasted the
enormous affection shown for
old soldiers of the Second World
War with the indifference often
shown to younger veterans of
more recent conflicts such as Iraq
and Afghanistan. The survey by
the SSAFA military charity
painted an overwhelmingly bleak
picture of how former
servicemen and women feel they
are viewed by the wider public.
The survey of 1,000 veterans, all
of whom have been helped by
SSAFA, found that 81 per cent
thought US veterans were more
respected than those in the UK,
75 per cent felt they were not as
respected as the emergency
services and 89 per cent said
civilians do not understand their
needs. Alarmingly, 70 per cent
said employers did not properly
value their skills or abilities with
some choosing to leave their
military careers off their CVs.
Invictus Games Racing Takes The
Fight To The Track in British GT
Inspiration comes from a
variety of sources globally,
as a new team will enter the
2018 British GT
championship this year in
the GT4 category for 2018,
as a selected crack troop of
injured veterans will make
up the newly created
Invictus Games Racing
outfit. Created through a
mutual collaboration
between the Superdry
clothing brand and the
Invictus Games Federation,
it sees the culmination of a
year’s worth of
development, with Superdry
Co-Founder James Holder
having commissioned two F-
Type SVRs to built to
compete under the current
regulations. Holder himself
has also competed in the
Championship in 2016,
having partnered with
Matthew George in the #44
Generation
AMR
SuperRacing Aston Martin
Vantage GT4 for a single
round, and was inspired to
make the partnership
happen, having watched the
Invictus Games in Orlando.
MoreHaving funded the
project himself, along with
the design and development
of the cars, it will help to
promote future opportunities
for other WIS (wounded,
sick or injured) servicemen
and women the chance to
experience full throttle
motorsport head-on. More..
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