We fought for our country.. nobody cares

WAR veterans in Edinburgh are furious after they say they were snubbed by the organisers of today's Armed Forces Day celebrations in the Capital.

Members of The Royal Naval Association, the Royal Marines Association and the Parachute Regimental Association based in the city said they were not invited to the parade, and only discovered it was taking place by chance.

They said around 500 members across the three associations would have been keen to proudly

march in today's parade – which will bring thousands of Scottish soldiers and veterans together – but due to the short notice, only a handful from each group will take part.

And of the 150 members across the three branches of the Royal Naval Association – in Edinburgh, West Lothian and Rosyth – only ten people will take part in today's parade.

Davie Ritchie, 71, a member of the Parachute Regimental Association, said: "We have put a lot of service into the regiment but when it comes to the Armed Forces Day parade, we weren't made aware of it. We feel left out in the cold."

The event, which was organised by the city council with a £10,000 grant from the Ministry of Defence, will see more than 2,000 soldiers and veterans gathering on Edinburgh Castle Esplanade to take part in a parade.

Similar celebrations are taking place in cities across the UK.

Kenneth Kerr, a senior officer of the Royal Naval Association, said the Edinburgh branch was not made aware of any of the events.

He said: "If it had been properly advertised, then for a day like that every organisation would have done its damndest to get every member on parade. I would say about 500 from the three associations would have been on parade."

Several associations gathered a petition of around 300 veterans' signatures last year, asking for the council to keep a register of organisations' details. But Mr Kerr said this had been "ignored".

He added: "The Royal Naval Association is thinking 'is it worthwhile going or not?'. We have fought for our country but we are just thinking that nobody really cares, so why show up? The veterans are thinking that the council has no time for them and that they just wave you aside."

Secretary of the Edinburgh branch of the Royal Marines Commando Association, Jackie Moyers, 60, said from more than 30 members, only five will attend the parade.

He added: "We have got World War Two veterans in the Edinburgh branch and we have received no invitation whatsoever to come along to this. A lot of our members are going to Spean Bridge near Fort William for another parade on the same day, but if we had known about this event a lot of the older veterans would have liked to come.

"I feel let down and hurt that our branch has been left out."

A spokeswoman for the MoD said military and veterans' associations were contacted by the MoD's Armed Forces Day team several months ago to inform them of the event, and they were asked to register their interest on the Armed Forces Day website.

She added: "If that message hasn't gone down to the regional branches of organisations, then that's the responsibility of the headquarters of the organisations. There has clearly been some problem with communication within the organisation."

A council spokeswoman said: "The council extended an invitation to its partnership bodies, asking them to disseminate the information to their various membership networks."